Darkness Falling
by bohemianbabe
Summary: Brennan and Shalimar. Will he forever be separated from the woman that he loves? story completed! please read!
1. Prolouge

Darkness Falls

bohemian babe

Mutant x.

Archiving welcome with my permission.

Pg-13

The room was empty and dark. Its sole occupant sat in the floor against the far wall. It was his prison, and yet it was the only place he felt safe. The room she had once occupied, the room that would forever be empty.

Her life had ended so quickly and so suddenly. It had taken them all by shock. One single night had messed up everything for all of them. One was lost entirely, two had been put in their own world, and one had been separated from everything that had once been important to him.

For hours a day he'd go and sit in the room, separated from the two others. The two moleculars had turned to each other for comfort, and in the process had managed to exclude him from it all. He was alone in the world with no chance of coming back from his private hell. It was nothing that any one could sympathize with. Neither of the others knew what his true relationship with the woman had been, and there was no way that they could understand what he was going through.

Each day he prayed that it was only a night mare, that he would wake up and find that she wasn't really gone, that she was still there. It was the one hopeful possibility that kept him alive. He was not able to function properly with out her. He needed her for everything.

In his hand he held a small piece of paper that he flipped over and over between his fingers. The debate raged on in his mind. He had one choice to make, once choice could set it all right again. Bring him back the woman that he loved, bring him back another chance at life.

Flashback.

__

"If you ever need anything call me." the girl smiled at him. "Even if it is just to go back in time to keep from leaving me." she handed him a small piece of paper with her phone number scribbled on it.

"Thank you." Brennan took the paper from her. "Hopefully I wont have to put you back in danger."

"Don't worry about it. If you ever choose to call me I know it will be for a good reason."

End flashback.

He got up and walked out of the empty room heading for the nearest phone.


	2. Chapter 1

Darkness Falls.

Bohemian babe

Mutant x.

Archiving welcome with my permission

Pg-13.

**__**

A year earlier

__

Shalimar stepped into the rec area of New Sanctuary with her wet hair still dripping from her shower. _It was hard for her to believe that they had managed to rebuild their entire lives in just a few months. Their new home reminded her so much of the old one, yet it was different. She couldn't quite put her finger on where the lines blurred, between the past and the present._

She heard the sounds of Brennan and Jesse involved in a game of one-on-one over on the basket ball court. She followed the noise and stood wordlessly watching them.

The boys were so wrapped up in their game that it wasn't until the ball rolled off the court and stopped at her feet that they noticed her. Brennan jogged over to retrieve both the ball and a kiss from the woman.

"You wanna play, Shal?" Jesse asked as he caught the ball Brennan threw to him. "Lexa said she might come and join us in a while."

Shalimar looked down at her outfit, more specifically at the short skirt she was wearing. "Thanks, Jess, but I think I'll pass this time. I've got a book I wanted to read anyways."

"Some other time then." Jesse agreed. He gave her a quick smile and then the two men returned to their game.

Shalimar watched them for a moment longer and then went to her room to retrieve the mystery novel that she had been working on before their last mission. With the day stretching out before her she was looking forward to finishing the novel, and maybe spending some time that evening with Brennan.

Book in hand, Shalimar headed off to find a quite space in which she could read.

Later that afternoon.

Brennan and Lexa stood in front of the jewelry counter in one of the department stores at the mall.

"Would you just hurry up and pick one already? We're going to be late getting back in." Lexa complained.

"If it was your ring Jess was picking out you'd want him to be thinking as he chose it."

"Well its not my ring and it will never be my ring."

Brennan smirked as he watched the woman suddenly become interested in looking at the display of wedding bands. "This is the one." he pointed to a two carat princess cut diamond ring. "It is the perfect ring."

Lexa looked at the ring he was pointing to. "You can really afford to get her that ring?"

"We have an installment plan if it is needed." a saleswoman walked over with her false helpful smile.

"It wont be needed." Brennan said quickly. He pulled out his wallet. "Could you get the ring for me please?"

"Of course." the woman gave him a slightly snobbish look, but pulled the ring out of the display case and rang up the price.

That evening.

Brennan set the ring box on his dresser and then took off the t-shirt he had been wearing. He dug around in his dresser for a minute before deciding to go shower off before dressing for his dinner date with Shalimar.

After his shower Brennan pulled on a pair of black dress pants and a soft deep red dress shirt. As he went to go out the door he hesitated for a moment, considering taking the ring with him and giving it to Shalimar then. Finally deciding to stick with his original plan to give it to her the next week on her birthday he walked out of the room and headed down the hall to her room.

Shalimar smiled as she opened the door to her room and found Brennan waiting on her. "I suppose I should be ready for a fun evening?"

"Hon, with our lives you should be ready for anything." he leaned in and softly kissed her. "But hopefully things will be quiet enough for you and me to enjoy a nice evening together."

Shalimar's smile brightened even further as they walked down the hall to the kitchen.

In the kitchen Brennan had set a table for two, red roses, and candles. He lit the candles, poured them each a glass of white wine and served up the meal of herb roasted chicken and pasta he had talked Jesse into making for them.

With supper on the table, Brennan pulled out Shalimar's chair for her and seated her.

He walked around the table and sat in his own chair. For a moment silence filled the room as they looked at each other, the light of the candles reflecting in their eyes.

"Supper looks wonderful." Shalimar said when the silence got to be too much for her.

"Jesse cooked it. I don't think I could have boiled the water for the noodles properly."

"Who chose the menu?"

"That part I could do. I knew that this was one fo your favorite things to eat."

An awkward silence fell on the table.

"You know this is normally about the time we get interrupted by some big emergency that we have to go in and fix." Brennan laughed.

"I hate when that happens. I don't think you and I have managed to have five full dates in the last several months."

"Well hopefully this one will make it all the way."

Later that night.

Brennan and Shalimar collapsed onto her bed. The sheer intensity of their emotions throwing both of them into a deep need for each other. It took little time for their clothes to come off and them to begin making love.


	3. Chapter 2

Darkness falls.

Bohemian Babe

Archiving welcome

pg-13

__

The next day.

Brennan woke up late in the morning with Shalimar laying in his arms. He gently pressed a kiss to the top of her head and then pulled the blankets closer up around them. Lying quietly he could hear the sound of her breathing, the sounds from the rest of Sanctuary softly echoed into the room. Lexa and Jesse arguing over some pointless thing and the computer beeping.

He closed his eyes and tried to let himself fall back to sleep, unfortunately failing. Shalimar finally began to stir, and woke up slowly. Brennan leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips and pulled her body close against his. When the kiss broke Shalimar laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. For a few moments they laid in complete silence.

"We really should get up now." Shalimar whispered, not making a move to leave Brennan's arms.

"I guess we wouldn't want Jesse and Lexa to come looking for us." Brennan agreed reluctantly.

They slipped out of the bed and Brennan pulled on the clothes he had worn the night before, not wanting to risk an awkward run in with one of the others.

A few minutes later all four members of Mutant X were sitting around the breakfast table. Shalimar noticed that Lexa was sitting unusually close to Jesse, and that the other couples body language suggested they had spent the night at least sleeping in the same bed.

Brennan also noticed the two moleculars, but dismissed the whole thing with out a second thought.

The meal was quick and quiet. Both couples were too wrapped up in their own little worlds to really talk as a group.

When the meal was over the boys went out to take care of the various jobs that they had to do while the girls stayed in the kitchen to clean up after breakfast.

"So were you two safe?" Shalimar asked when she was sure the boys were out of hearing range.

Lexa startled at the question, but then smiled. "We didn't do anything last night."

Shalimar raised an eyebrow. "You didn't do anything last night? Not what your body language says."

"We talked, kissed a little and I slept in his room in his bed. No sex involved, not yet anyway."

"You mean in the nearly eight months you two have been 'together' you haven't had sex with him?"

"Jesse and I aren't together. I thought that you understood that I wasn't looking for a relationship."

"Doesn't mean that you two wouldn't have." she wiped a plate dry and put it away in the cabinet. "So did you help Brennan pick out my birthday present?"

"I did and all I can say is that you will love it. It took him forever to pick out though."

"I'm sure it is perfect. I think we're going to a club tonight if you and Jesse want to come."

"Exactly how do you expect me to get the nerd wonder away from his computer for that long?"

"I'm sure if you promised him a reward he'd leave the computers alone for a while."

"I don't think I'm up to a night out." Lexa put away the final fork and turned to face Shalimar. "That temporary treatment Jesse tried on me is starting to wear off."

"You haven't told him yet have you?"

"I figure he's got enough to worry about right now and I don't need to add to the stress load. I'd be the straw that broke the camel's back."

"If you don't tell him and you end up dead it would be worse on him. You know how he feels about you."

"I know that it makes him weak, and that if he's not careful his feelings will get in the way and he'll get sloppy in his work."

"Don't worry about Jesse so much. He knows how to separate himself from personal feelings when work needs him too."

"I'll talk to him about the treatment wearing off, but I'm not promising anything else."

"You do that much and I'll let you have a couple of days off before I start to make you crazy about telling him how you feel."

The two women laughed and then walked out of the kitchen.

Later that afternoon.

Shalimar walked into the lab and found Jesse sitting at his computer. She noted the look of worry and frustration on his face as she walked over to him. "I guess you and Lexa talked."

"I don't know what to do." He pushed his chair back from the computer and put his face in his hands. "I cant figure this one out."

"Give yourself some time, you'll get it. Maybe taking a night off would help."

"I don't know how much time she has, I need to stay in and work till I get this thing figured out."

"Life is too short to be spent behind a computer. Just come out to the club with me and Brennan tonight. You only have to stay out three hours at the most. You can even bring one of the hand helds and work on this at the club if you want."

"You and Bren go out. I'll stay home and work. I don't want to be the third wheel."

"You wouldn't be the third wheel if you bring Lexa along as your date."

"I don't think she'd go for it. She's made it perfectly clear to me that she's not interested in dating me."

"Come on, it doesn't mean you two are in a relationship. You two can just come with us to the club, I don't care if you don't say a word to her the whole night. You and I both know that you want to date her, but if you don't make a move that will never happen. The worst that could happen is that you have a horrible, boring night and the best that could happen… you spend tonight in bed with Lexa having a little fun."

"You know its been so long that I don't think I can even remember what that kind of fun is like."

"All the more reason for you to get your butt out of that chair and go have some fun for a night. Maybe relearn what that kind of fun is like."

"I'll ask her, but I cant guarantee that she'll say yes."

"Just ask her and she what she says." Shalimar called over her shoulder as she walked out of the lab.

Later that night

Shalimar watched from her bedroom door as Lexa slipped out of her room and into Jesse's. When she heard the click of the lock on her door she smiled, knowing that her plan to get the two of them to finally hook up was working. She walked over to her bed and slipped in next to Brennan, curling up into his arms and falling asleep.


	4. Chapter 3

Darkness Falling

Bohemian babe

Archiving welcome with my permission.

Pg-13

__

The next day.

Late afternoon

Shalimar stood in front of her full length mirror looking at the dress she was going to wear in just a few days to her birthday party. The four had already decided to go eat at a small, but fancy restaurant on the outskirts of town near what Lexa and Jesse referred to as 'snob hills.' With the party only four days away Shalimar had taken the morning to go shopping for something special to wear. Only a few minutes after walking into the store she had found the perfect dress and immediately bought it.

The dress was a soft silk in a deep burgundy made in a slim cut style. There was a slit on one side that went up to mid thigh and the neck line plunged down low. Thinking carefully as she looked at her reflection Shalimar decided that the dress would look best with the diamond necklace Adam had bought her after she graduated from high school.

She pulled the necklace out of its velvet lined box and carefully fastened the clasp then looked back in the mirror. She smiled at the reflection and decided that she had been right about the necklace. Carefully she took off both the dress and the necklace and put them away safely.

She heard someone knocking on the door and quickly pulled back on her clothes. "Come in."

Lexa opened the door, stepped in the room, and closed the door tightly behind her. "We need to talk."

"Sounds serious." Shalimar sat down on her bed and signaled Lexa to join her. "What's up?"

"I guess its no secret what happened between me and Jess last night after we got back home."

"Not really. You having regrets about it?"

"Not so much about what we did as I am about how we did it."

"How you did it? That isn't making much since to me."

"Well you know its been a long time since he has, and well I'm not on any thing…"

"And he didn't have anything?"

"Exactly. I really thought that we were safe, but I was flipping through a calendar, and well I'm not so sure that we are."

"Well if you need me to I can run the scans so Jesse doesn't have to know."

"Thanks." Lexa was still visibly shaken. "I really cant deal with this, at least not now."

"Its no secret that you don't want to have kids. I guess I should check into the other options you'd have just in case."

"No, don't bother." Lexa pushed a strand of hair back from her face. "If it turns out that I did get pregnant because of my stupidity last night, well I know a good prenatal specialist."

"Prenatal specialist? You'd actually go through with a pregnancy?"

"Not if the father was any other man, but I don't know. I guess I feel like I don't have a right to even tell Jesse that I was getting an abortion if I was pregnant."

"He'd give you your choice. I mean I know he'd want the kid, he feels like he has something to make up for."

"I know he'd give me a choice, but when he looks at you with those eyes, even I have a hard time saying no." Lexa laughed slightly. "So what does he feel he has to make up for?"

"His father. Noah Kilmartin was not what a father should be, and now Jesse feels he needs to make up for that by having a kid of his own."

"This just gets more complicated. I'll talk to you later. I'm supposed to be letting Jesse test a new formula on me."

"We'll find Adam soon then Jesse can stop worrying so much, maybe even be able to spend a little more time with you."

"Yeah, get himself in even more trouble." Lexa walked out of the room.

Two hours later.

Shalimar walked into the lab and found Jesse working at his computer.

"You having any luck?"

"Not really. I guess I'm too tired to think. Didn't sleep all that well last night."

"Oh I know you didn't get much sleep last night. Actually that reminds me of something."

"What does it remind you of?" Jesse gave her a weird look.

"I was just wondering about what would happen with those stabilization formulas you are trying if it was used on a pregnant woman."

"I guess worst case scenario the pregnancy would be terminated. You don't have something you're not telling me do you?"

"I'm not pregnant, I would tell you if I was."

"Good." he shook his head as an idea came to him. "God forbid I be right, but is Lexa?"

"It wouldn't be my place to say if she was."

"Right now I don't care whose place it would be. I don't know what could happen to a pregnant woman, and if she is I really need to know."

"If she was I'd tell you, but as far as I know she isn't."

"She scared because of last night?"

"A little. She is at a disadvantage with this one."

"I'll go talk to her later."

"Just don't tell her I told you anything. Let her think you came up with the idea on your own."

"Right. I'll still be bracing myself for the worst." He looked down at the key board. "Part of the reason I never pushed her for a relationship was because I knew eventually the subject of kids would come up again."

"Because she doesn't want to have kids?"

"Even as much as I love her I couldn't choose between her or having a chance to raise kids of my own."

"So if Alicia came back you'd go with her because she'd probably be willing to have kids?"

"I never said that."

"So what are you saying?"

"That I cant deal with only having one or the other. If I stay with Lexa I can forget the idea of having kids with her, but if I go with having kids I lose Lexa. After all I've done with helping others and saving the world over and over with out any thanks I think I'm entitled to have both."

"You are. Just talk to her Jess, and tell her what you told me."

"Do you want her to yell at me?"  
"Just humor me."

"Alright, I'll talk to her."

That night

Lexa stormed into Shalimar's bedroom in full rage. "How could you do that to me!"

"Do what?" Shalimar asked cautiously.

"You told Jesse! I thought I didn't have to spell out that I didn't want him to know!"

"I didn't flat out tell him. I was trying to find out if there was any danger for you to be taking those antidotes if you were pregnant. He pulled more out of the things I left unsaid."

"You know what it doesn't matter. I'm never going to trust you like that again."

Lexa stormed back out of the room leaving Shalimar in shock.


	5. Chapter 4

Darkness Falling

bohemianbabe

archiving welcome with my permission.

note: hopefully you are all enjoying this break from my normal stlye. as mxangel i wrote consistently j/l stories, but now i am trying to broden my scope. feedback is welcome in the form of praise or flames. the old mxangel stories will be reposted eventually, or at least most of them. i lost a few when i lost my old account. here is the next instalment to the story

Chapter 5.

The Next Day.

_Shalimar walked into the kitchen to help Lexa prepare breakfast only to be greeted with an icy stare from the other woman. She knew that Lexa could hold a grudge, but had hoped that maybe the brunette's harsh words the day before had only been from the heat of the moment. Now, being bored through by the all-all-too-cool, cool blue eyes she knew that she had been wrong._

_"I really am sorry about yesterday." She said as she walked over to the counter and started to measure up the coffee. _

_"You are sorry about yesterday! I think that's about the most irritating thing you've ever said to me since I got here!" Lexa shook her head. "For a group that has preached to me about trust you sure don't seem to practice it yourselves."_

_"I just was trying to find out if continuing the treatments would kill you, or possibly the baby if there was one. I did not go in there and tell him that you thought there was a possibility. That is something that you should tell him, not someone else; if it ever happened."_

_"So how exactly did it come to him searching me out and bombarding me with questions about how I felt about things? And he did ask me about everything, from kids to marriage."_

_"He came up with it on his own. All I did was answer him when he asked if you were scared because of the night before. I didn't even spell out what you were scared about. He's smart and he loves you."_

_"I told him and I'm telling you, that 'love' word is not something I ever want to hear. I've lived for as long as I have by breaking off all personal feelings, and the few I allowed myself to start feeling here have been the cause of a lot of pain lately. Maybe it's not the happiest way to live, but it is a lot easier."_

_"You can have the kitchen to yourself." Shalimar turned and walked out of the room. She was already stressed from the knowledge that maybe she had stepped over a few lines when she had talked to Jesse before, and arguing with Lexa was not going to do anything to help alleviate that stress._

_Walking down the hall she inwardly cringed when she saw Jesse headed toward her. She knew that she had nowhere to hide, and therefore no way to get out of talking to him. It was a certainty that the man would want to talk to her, even if she did want to avoid that particular ritual for a while longer._

_"Shal, have you got a few minutes?" Jesse asked when he reached her._

_"Sure." She gave him her best fake smile and followed him over to the sofa. "What's on your mind?"_

_"I get the feeling you already half know so I'll just go straight to the point. I all but proposed to her last night and then she made it perfectly clear that she doesn't want a relationship."_

_"I don't think it was so much you as it was her angry with me. She thinks I went straight to you and told you everything she and I had talked about earlier."_

_"So that's why you were so selective in how you said things yesterday. You were trying to tell me with out telling me."_

_"I just wanted to make sure that your antidotes wouldn't kill her or the baby if there was one."_

_"She wouldn't have cared if the pregnancy had been terminated, only if her life had been put in danger and she might have been ok with that. She misses her brother."_

_"I know she misses him, but I also know you're wrong about something. Since I already told you most of it I may as well seal my fate. If she is pregnant she plans on keeping the baby. She said that she wouldn't have a baby with any other man, but with you it is different. Even though she won't say it, I think she really does love you."_

_"Lets not go there for now, at least not about me and Lexa. You and Bren have any plans for marriage or kids?"_

_"We've talked about it. He and I would both love to have kids, one day; and we would like to have those kids together. I guess time will tell how that all works out."_

_"He'll be good for you. Adam and I always saw it. We used to talk about it when I was helping him with the lab work. You know, looking back I wonder if he really needed the extra set of hands or if he knew that I'd eventually have to be the one in there."_

_"Maybe it was a little of both. I wish he was here so we could all stop living with a death sentence over our heads. I think that once Lexa can stop worrying about her life being on the line she can start learning to be in a relationship. Not to mention the fact that you could use the sleep and rest. You may not have to worry about your powers killing you, but you are going to kill yourself from exhaustion if you aren't careful."_

_"There will be plenty of time for me to rest after you three are stabilized. For now I get to enjoy what was always Adam's job, worrying about everyone."_

_"Just don't kill yourself before you save the rest of us."_

_"I won't." Jesse gave her a gentle smile and then stood up to leave. "I'll try to calm her down for you."_

_"Don't worry about it."_

_"Guys I've got something!" Brennan called as he ran into the room. "There was a message sent to our computer last night. It's from Adam."_

_"Let's go see what is in the message." Jesse said as he headed to the computers. He sat down and quickly pulled up the video message._

_"Jesse, Brennan, Shalimar, and hopefully Lexa, I'm sending this message to you because there has been a slight break in the situation. I know that it has been a long time since the day that I was lead off by the Creator and the others with the Dominion, and I am hoping that you are all well. According to the original dates Lexa should have died a month ago, but I'm hoping that my capable student has found a way to at least prolong her life in his search for a cure. If he hasn't then I address you, Brennan and Shalimar, more than I address him. _

_"If Lexa is gone the only job I have for Jesse to do is decoding this message for the coordinates. I am giving you strict orders to let him grieve for her as long as he needs to. I know that when he lost Emma he never got the chance to grieve for her, and I do not want that building up to bring him to a breaking point. If this does not work he may be the only chance that new mutants have._

_"Once you have the coordinates wait for my next message. It will tell you when to meet me, and it will be sent to you in two days. I know that this time frame will make preparations and Jesse's decoding that much more difficult but it is the only chance we may have at this working. _

_"The good news is that after this meeting takes place there will no longer be such a death sentence for new mutants. I am hoping that I have reached you before it is too late, but I am even more hoping that this wasn't necessary at all. I have all faith in the belief that Jesse could find the cure on his own; that is why I have been careful not to contact you until I was sure that our meeting would not be intercepted. _

_"I leave you all for now, and will hope to see you at the assigned place and time." The recording ended, leaving the three in silence._

_"So I guess Jesse did his work pretty well since I'm still alive." Lexa said from the doorway. Seeing the tears that were starting to form in Jesse's eyes she walked over to him and gently pressed her lips to his. "I need to talk to him alone."_

_Shalimar and Brennan nodded and walked out of the room, leaving the two to themselves._

_"I know that you and Shalimar talked again today." Lexa whispered as she slid onto his lap and put one arm around his back. "I just couldn't tell you the truth yet. Not with the knowledge that I was still living on borrowed time."_

_"So you thought it would be easier on me if you lied to me?" his tone was almost bitter, but more full of hurt._

_Lexa reached up and gently brushed away the tears that had started to roll down his cheeks. "I just couldn't let myself love you until I knew that I wasn't going to die so quickly."_

_"You know that it would have hurt me more to have watched you dying and not know how you felt about me."_

_"I do." Lexa closed her eyes and willed back her own tears. "After this is over we can start trying to work at this. I love you, and I do agree that you deserve to have everything you want, even if that is having both me and kids of your own. It may be a while before I'm ready to officially start a family with you, but if we are pregnant now I will not do anything to kill our child."_

_"And if we aren't?"_

_"Then you'll just have to wait a little while before I'm ready to try for a baby. I've wanted kids with you ever since we started this undefined relationship with you. The majority of my hesitancy was the fact that I knew there was a strong chance of me dying during the pregnancy, but if Adam can stabilize us that changes a lot."_

_Jesse took a deep breath and pulled her close to him. "If you are or are not pregnant we are still going to take this slowly. I don't want to rush into anything, not until we have had sometime to develop as a couple. I love you too much to push you into anything."_

_"I love you too." Lexa whispered and then kissed him again, but more passionately this time._


	6. Chapter 5

Darkness Falling

Bohemianbabe.

Archiving welcome with my permission.

Note: Thank you for the reviews everyone, especially redhead2. I look forward to hearing your comments on this new chapter. I especially want to know what you think about the little 'secret' Lexa will reveal about Jesse's past. That goes for everyone! I want feed back on how you feel about that idea.

Chapter 6:

The next day

_Shalimar walked into the computer area to find Jesse hard at work. He had begun the decoding process immediately after he and Lexa had finished talking the day before, and had only stopped working when he had to. After nearly twenty four hours, Shalimar hoped that he was nearing the end of his work._

_"There." Jesse said as he pressed a final button. The numbers on the screen disappeared and were replaced by a map._

_"You broke the inscription?" Shalimar asked as she walked over to him._

_"Finally.__ Now all we have to do is to wait for the next message." Jesse printed off the map and then turned to face her. "I didn't get a chance to talk to her yet, but I promise I'll do it soon. Yesterday was too much about me and her for me to explain why you did what you did."_

_"It's ok. I understand that you needed to talk about other things. She and I will eventually reconcile."_

_"We both know how badly she holds a grudge." Jesse turned back around and turned off the computer. "I'm going to get some sleep since I hardly got any last night."_

_"Just don't let Lexa join you or you'll never get any sleep."_

_"Like I'm going to deny her of her fun if she wants it." He smirked slightly. "I'm too tired to deal with her right now. I'll spend some time with her later."_

_"It will be nice to get you out of the lab for a while. I was beginning to think that you were going to move in there."_

_"I know it always felt like Adam lived in there." Jesse shook his head. "He sounded so confident that I could have found the cure. He knows I don't have much medical or science training with the exception of what he taught me."_

_"He taught you well. I think you had it right when you said you thought he was teaching you so you could take his place." Shalimar looked down at the floor for a second. "I have felt very safe putting my health in your hands over the past two years."_

_"You always know what to say to me. I guess that is what happens after living with a person for what, nearly fifteen years now?"_

_"Yeah.__ You know you'll be thirty-one soon. I can't believe how much time has past since the day you walked into Sanctuary."_

_"Do we really have to make a trip down memory lane?"_

_"We'll save it for my birthday." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Go get yourself some rest."_

_"Love you, Sis."_

_"Love you too, Little Brother." Shalimar smiled and watched him walk out of the room._

_"So are you done telling him the newest batch of secrets you've gathered?" Lexa asked as she walked into the room. She sat down at the computer and turned it back on._

_"Lexa, I was really only looking out for you. I did not want to do anything that would break your trust in me."_

_"What you did was a good thing." Lexa answered icily. "You reminded me why I shouldn't trust people."_

_"I guess that means you are through playing around at a relationship with Jesse?"_

_Lexa snapped her view up to look at the blonde woman. "What happens between me and Jesse is our business. If you have any kind of problem with us, say it to my face instead of hinting around at things."_

_"I've got no problem with you two being together. I'm just saying that relationships are built on trust, and if you're not going to trust people I don't see how you are going to learn to let him love you and to love him back."_

_"I think that my emotions have already been messed with enough by you. Now if you don't mind I have got some work that I'm supposed to be doing."_

_"Just remember that he is my family, and that he was my family long before he became whatever it is he is to you. If you hurt him in any way I promise you that you will regret doing it, you might even regret the day you were born." Shalimar turned and walked out of the room._

_"I already regret the day I was born." Lexa muttered under her breath as she opened a file. She smiled slightly as she read the first line of type aloud to herself. "Lina Blair Kilmartin or Benito Willem Kilmartin." She stared at the names for a second and then closed out the computer._

_Quietly walking she made her way to Jesse's room. She opened the door slightly and smiled as she watched him sleep. He had come in and crashed on the bed without bothering to take off anything but his shoes. She slipped into the room and picked up a blanket from the foot of his bed. Gently kissing his forehead as she leaned down over him, she covered him with the blanket and then left the room, closing the door behind her._

_"So he finally managed to break the inscription?" Brennan asked when he saw Lexa leaving Jesse's room._

_"Not too long ago. He was up all night working on it. I'll be glad when the mission is over and we have Adam back here so Jess can finally get some rest. He's been working almost non-stop since the day we lost Sanctuary and the Helix."_

_"We're all worried about him. He pulled through this kind of work for years under Adam's supervision so I'm pretty sure that he can handle another day or two of it." Brennan fell silent for a minute. "Do you want to go watch a movie or something? Shal is doing some sort of spa day thing since her birthday is in two days and Jess needs the sleep."_

_"I guess that could be fun. Better than worrying over the 'what ifs' of meeting Adam."_

_"It's not gonna be easy to bring him back here. Things have changed so much in this last year."_

_"You're right about that one. The last time I really worked in the same place as Adam he was my leader, in the last year we haven't had a leader. It is going to take a lot of getting used to that feeling again."_

_"Somehow I don't think he's going to come back in as our leader. I think this time around we'll all be equals."_

_"And maybe a few other things will change." Lexa smiled slightly. "Jesse is considering going back to college."_

_"I didn't know he ever went in the first place."_

_"He has a degree in English literature, and had started to study some medicine before he dropped out. I think he was just about done with the majority of his pre-med classes."_

_"So what when Adam comes back he's going to go back to college and finish getting his medical degree?"_

_"He might. He just doesn't want to bring up the subject around Shal since she got upset when he dropped out last time."_

_"I guess that a lot more things make sense, especially the fact that he was able to take over the lab work with out too much trouble." Brennan shook his head. "I just can't believe he never told me about it."_

_"Like I said, it's a sore spot with your girlfriend. She wanted him to finish getting the degree, but he felt it would be better to focus on his job with the Underground. I think he intended to go back when things settled down, but things never really settle down around here."_

_"So how did you find it out since he never talks about it?"_

_"I found the degree stashed away in a drawer when I was helping him go through the stuff that had survived the explosion. It's a good thing the bed rooms were on the other side of Sanctuary or everything might have been destroyed."_

_"I've thought of that every time I've played my guitar since that day. A lot of memories would have been lost if Adam hadn't made that provision."_

_"You'd better be careful or one of the others could see you going all soft with me." Lexa laughed._

_"We'll just have to go watch us a real kick-butt action movie then."_

_That night._

_Shalimar lay back in Brennan's bed trying to get herself to fall asleep. It had been a long day, and the next couple of days would be filled with even more excitement. Tomorrow they would get their next message from Adam, and be that much closer to having a chance at a real life; and then there was her birthday. For the past few days she had heard Brennan, Jesse, and Lexa whisper about some big surprise, but she could not figure out what it was. _

_Closing her eyes she let her senses do a sweep of Sanctuary. Once she was certain that everything and everyone was alright she managed to fall asleep._

Note2: Jesse with a medical degree! Well that should be something for all of you to think about. Let me know what you think, cause I really wanna know if I'm too far off-base with the idea that he could have done something like that.

Lotta luv

bohemianbabe


	7. Chapter 6

Darkness Falling

Bohemianbabe

Archiving with my permission.

Note: for those who don't know. The chapters 2-9 will be 'flashbacks', the first chapter was a 'present day' introduction, and in chapter 10 we will re-turn to 'present day' thanks for the reviews from redhead2, molecular 12 and mxfan24 (?) cant remember that last name exactly. Sorry! More to come soon! Lotta love

Bohemianbabe.

Review: flames more than welcome cause I know you took the time out to read and write!

Chapter 7.

The Next Day.

_The group of four sat impatiently waiting on the sofa near the computers. Lexa had been careful to position herself with both Jesse and Brennan between her and Shalimar. The two women were at an uneasy truce as they waited for the message from Adam._

_When the computer finally beeped to signal that a new message had arrived the group jumped. Taking a deep breath Jesse got up and walked over to the computer. The other three followed as Jesse began to punch in the codes to play the message._

_"Hopefully Jesse has decoded the coordinates that I send in the first message. I know that tomorrow is Shalimar's birthday and I wish that I could be with her then. I hate the fact that I have to make it three years in a row that I have missed the celebration._

_"With that said, the day after tomorrow is the day we will meet. You are to arrive at one p.m. and I will be joining you in fifteen minutes from that time. If Lexa is indeed still with us I want her to remain at Sanctuary while the mission is in progress. Jesse has his choice to stay home with her or come to the meeting._

_"I must cut this short. I will see all of you in two days." The message ended and Adam's image disappeared from the screen._

_"I refuse to be left at home while the rest of you go get him." Lexa stated and crossed her arms over her chest._

_Jesse, Brennan, and Shalimar exchanged glances quickly._

_"We're staying here, Lexa." Jesse replied calmly. Reaching out he took her hand and pulled her to him. "I'm this close to getting to keep you forever and I'm not about to let you get away from me because of something this simple. Shalimar and Brennan can handle this one."_

_"None of you have even considered the possibility that this is just a set up." Lexa said as she snatched away from Jesse and began to pace back and forth in front of the others. "For all we know he's being forced to do this so someone can lure us out to kill us. If that's the case we are going to all need to go in."_

_"We have thought about that, Lexa." Brennan answered with an uncharacteristic calm. "If it was a trap to lure us out Adam would have never told you and Jesse to stay home. Shalimar and I will take our chances on this one."_

_Lexa shot Jesse a glare and left the room._

_"She'll calm down later." Jesse said as he turned to face the computer. "You guys can go do whatever you need to do. I'll stay here and work on these security systems."_

_"I'm going to chance and then head to the dojo for a bit of a workout." Shalimar said as she gathered up her blonde locks into a thick pony tail. "Bren, you want to come join me?"_

_"I'll be along." Brennan watched as the feral walked out and then turend back to Jesse. "You really think it's going to be that easy to leave her here."_

_"I'm not stupid. She'll be fine, upset but fine."_

_"So are you going to try to go back to school?"_

_Jesse turned to face him, his expression that of sheer surprise.__ "I guess I might. I mean, I regret that I dropped out back then; but going back to pre-med would be hard after nearly ten years."_

_"It could be a step towards a normal life. A normal job, and maybe a wife and kids later."_

_"A normal life, now there is a good joke. Lexa would never agree to it. She loves the thrill of putting her life on the lone, and I love this work just as much as she does." Jesse typed in a few more commands on the computer. "Which one told you?"_

_"Lexa did." Brennan took a deep breath as he thought back to the conversation with the woman. "She sounded really proud of you. I'm not sure if it was the English lit degree or the start into pre-med, but she really sounded proud."_

_"She nearly flipped out when she found the English Lit degree. I guess she always say you as the poetry person and thought of me as the computer geek."_

_"The computer guy is the one we all know. I guess even after all these years we still have our secrets."_

_"And with Adam coming back there will be even more secrets around here." Jesse sighed. "It will be nice to know that you three aren't' going to die because of your powers, but I'm not looking forward to going back to all the secrets and the 'need-to-know-basis' information."_

_"Then we tell him that we can't operate like that anymore. It might take some time, but I'm pretty sure we'll get our point across."_

_"On that note I'll get to work on a file or our recent missions so we can prove that equal power does work well."_

_"Good luck, man." Brennan said as he walked out of the room._


	8. Chapter 7

Same stuff as usual. Please leave a comment. Hey redhead2, what you think of Jesse's gifts for Shal? Let me know.

Chapter 8

The next day

_Shalimar stood in front of her bathroom counter as she began to carefully style her hair. With slow motions she twisted up a section of hair around her curling iron, after a few moments she unwound the section and let it fall in a thick ringlet. One at a time she curled the sections of her hair until it was all laying in soft ringlets about her face. She pulled her hair back from her face with a set of diamond encrusted combs but let the rest of it fall loosely._

_She quickly applied her make-up and then opened the zippered bag that held the burgundy dress. Very carefully she put the dress on and then her jewelry. With one final touch to her hair she was ready. On the way out the door of her room she lightly sprayed herself with her perfume and picked up her purse and shoes._

_Jesse, Brennan, and Lexa were waiting in the rec room. Lexa stood in front of Jesse, straitening his tie and the collar of his shirt. Once she was satisfied that he looked right she lightly pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss._

_Brennan and Shalimar exchanged a smile as they watched the other couple. Brennan lightly kissed Shalimar and took her hand._

_"You two ready to go?" Shalimar asked Jesse and Lexa._

_"Yeah."__ Jesse took Lexa's arm. "Which car are we taking?"_

_"Two separate cars tonight." Brennan took a nervous breath._

_"Then lets get this show on the road.' Lexa said as she started to lead Jesse out of the room._

_Two hours later_

_The group of four sat around the table, laughing and talking. They had just finished their entrées and were waiting on dessert._

_"Excuse me, Miss." The waiter said as he stood next to Shalimar. "This was dropped off for you earlier."_

_"Thank you." Shalimar said as she took the box. Looking up at the others she toyed with he ribbon that was tied around it. "Which one of you did this?"_

_The other three looked at each other questioningly._

_"Its not from one of us, Shal." Jesse answered. "I guess we open it and find out."_

_"Alright."__ Shalimar untied the ribbon and opened the box. Lying in the box was a full length mink coat and a card. Shalimar opened the card and read what was written inside. "'Shalimar, although I cannot celebrate with you I did manage to send this to you. Knowing how you feel about furs they are not real, but do look as if they are. Happy birthday, Shalimar. Love Adam.'"_

_"He sent you a birthday present." Lexa smiled slightly. "I guess we should give you are gifts now." She handed the blonde woman a small white box._

_Shalimar opened it and smiled at the stack of gift cards from various stores. "Thank you, Lexa. I'll enjoy these." She answered softly._

_"I've got two for you." Jesse handed her a small rectangular package and an envelope. "Open the package first."_

_"Alright."__ Shalimar carefully un-wrapped the wrapping paper and found a book with her name across it. Flipping thought the pages she found stories from her years with Mutant X, and pictures of her with the other team members. "It's wonderful, Jess."_

_"I had it specially made for you.' He smiled and raked his fingers through his hair. "Open the envelope now."_

_Shalimar carefully slit open the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. She stared at it with confusion. "What is this?"_

_"What does it look like?" Jesse shot back, still smiling._

_"A class schedule?"_

_"What kind of classes, Shal?" Jesse asked, trying not to laugh._

_Shalimar carefully studied the courses listed. "Pre-med?" Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "You're going back to school to get your med degree?"_

_"My classes start in two months. Are you happy?"_

_"Happy!__ I'm elated!" She got up, walked over to him, and hugged him. "You are going to make a great doctor."_

_"I think one more person has a present for you, Shal." Lexa said softly._

_"Alright."__ Shalimar gently kissed Jesse on the cheek and then went back to her seat._

_Brennan got up, walked over to Shalimar, and knelt down on one knee as he pulled out the jewelry box. "During the last four years our lives have been insane. There have been many times when one or both of us have almost been killed, and there have been times when we have hurt each other. Each and every time that I have come close to loosing you have shown me how much I love you. So tonight I want to ask you to be my wife. Shalimar Fox, will you marry me?"_

_"Yes, I'll marry you." She leaned in and lightly kissed him._

_Three hours later._

_Brennan and Shalimar stood outside the door of the justice of the peace's office._

_Brennan turned to Shalimar and looked at her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"_

_"I'm sure. I cant wait another day to be your wife." She smiled at him. "I'm just glad that you're friend could swing this."_

_"So am I." Brennan gently kissed her. "After this is over we'll go somewhere special and when we get home in the morning you can announce that we are Mr. and Mrs. Brennan Mulwray."_

_"I love you, Brennan."_

_"I love you too, Shal."_


	9. Chapter 8

Well now we finally get to what I know redhead2 has been waiting for, Adam's return. But we also now reach one climax of the story. This is the last chapter that will be written as a flash back. Hope you guys enjoy. Leave me a nice little note telling me what you thought. You can be as brutally honest as you want with it. Also for all of you who can, please spread the word that this is mxangel writing under the bohemianbabe account. Would appreciate it!

Chapter 9

The Next Day.

_11:30 am._

_Shalimar and Brennan walked into the computer lab of New Sanctuary and found Jesse working at the computer._

_Jesse looked up when he heard them and then briskly began to get things together. "Lexa is still asleep thanks to the sedative I gave her this morning. I hated doing it, but didn't want to take any chances. You guys need to hurry up and get out of here because I don't want there to be any chance of her waking up early and slipping out with you. I'll be monitoring things from here, but there shouldn't be any trouble. Call me before you come back in of anything goes wrong." He took a deep breath. "I want you guys back here with in twenty minutes of getting Adam. Lexa's last treatment could give out by tonight so we don't have time to delay."_

_Shalimar gently hugged Jesse. "She'll be alright. We'll be back as quickly as we can."_

_Jesse nodded and chocked back his tears. "Let's get this over with."_

_1:10 pm._

_Brennan and Shalimar sat crouched behind a low brick wall as they waited. With every second that passed by they grew more anxious."_

_"Someone's coming." Shalimar whispered. She turned to her feral senses. "It's Adam. There are about three people a block away but I cant be sure about anything further."_

_"We'll get Adam and get out of here." Brennan whispered back._

_They stood up and called to their former leader in unison. "Adam!"_

_Adam turned to face them and then hurried over to them. "We need to leave now. I cannot be certain, but I think someone followed me."_

_"Then let's go.' Brennan said and started toward the Helix. Just as they reached the door three men appeared. One was carrying a semi-automatic and opened fire._

_The group rushed in: Brennan, Adam, and then Shalimar. Just as Shalimar reached to close the door a bullet tore through her body, near her heart._

_Both men turned as they heard her fall. Adam knelt down net to her to examine the wound while Brennan shot the three men with an electic arc._

_"We need to get her to a hospital now!" Adam called as Brennan rushed to close the door and start the Helix._

_"We've got New Sanctuary set up. Jess has expanded his training; between the two of you she'll be fine!" Brennan called back and switched on the com link. "Jess, we're coming in. Prep the med la, Shal's been shot."_

_"It'll be ready when you get here!" Jesse called, already leaving the computer._

_Brennan looked back to where Adam had strapped Shalimar into a reclined chair. Every fiber of his being prayed that she would pull through it._

_Four hours later._

_Adam nodded and Jesse pulled a sheet over Shalimar, pressing a loving kiss to her forehead before he covered her face. Both men had done everything they could to save her, but it was not enough._

_They walked out of the lab to where Lexa and Brennan were waiting anxiously._

_"Brennan," Adam took a deep breath to keep his voice from breaking. "I'm sorry. Jesse and I did everything possible for her."_

_Brennan put his face in his hands as he began to cry. Adam signaled Jesse and Lexa and the three walked out to give Brennan his space._

_"I'll go prep the lab for treating Lexa." Adam whispered. "I refuse to loose another person." He walked back into the lab leaving Jesse and Lexa alone._

_The two stood in silence for a moment and then desperately pulled each other close._


	10. Chapter 9

Well we are done with the flashbacks! Now we are going to hit present time. I promise that the next time you guys need to be prepared for something I'll let you know. Please help me get the word out that I was formerly known as mxangel and now write under the pen name bohemian babe. If any of you write and would not mind doing so, could you please leave a note about that in an author's note at the top of your story? It would be a greatly appreciated gesture. Anyway, on to the story. I hope that you are all are enjoying this story. Please leave me a note to tell me if there is anything you'd like to see happen later on, or if there was anything during the flashbacks that you thought should have been in there. You will see why later. Sage360 is inspiration for Jesse's new hairstyle. If any of you have read 'clublights' you'll get it. If you haven't do read it! Redhead2, Love the stories! i so happy htat you started a new one! i lost my old account about the time you finished troubles of the past so i had to back track and read it before i read the new one! i will review you soon and be just as thorough as i was with you when i was mxangel. you can hold me to that! so enjoy my loves!

Chapter 10.

Present day.

Brennan left his room having made the phone call to the girl. Cheri was now the only person who could help him set things right.

As he made his way down the hall he heard the door to Jesse and Lexa's bedroom slam shut. Looking up he saw Jesse standing outside the door, his whole body showing how stressed he was.

"The results not good?" Brennan asked quietly as he approached the other man.

Jesse took a deep breath to relax himself before looking up. "I don't know what's harder on her. The fact that we can't conceive or the fact that she's got no one to talk to about it."

"Have you talked to Adam to see if you could help in anyway?"

"He told me what fertility tests to run and when everything came back ok he said there really wasn't anything he could do. I've talked to all the doctors we've ever worked will and they cant figure anything out. I've even had a shrink tell me that Lexa and I are too stressed out."

"She's done a one-eighty on this. I can remember when she used to have a whole list of reasons why not to have a child."

"And now she's got a longer list on why she wants one." Jesse shook his head. "I guess I'd better talk to her."

"Yeah. Maybe the shrink is right though. I would have thought she'd be pregnant by now with you two trying every night for the last eight months."

"We've all been stressed after this last year." Jesse ran his fingers through his hair, pushing the now almost shoulder length locks back. "She also realized that today was the day I would have officially become a doctor."

"And it reminded her of her fight with Shal." Brennan added. "Somehow I think even all of this would be easier if Adam hadn't left."

"He stayed for a month, long enough to find out that her ghost would haunt his as long as he stayed here. I think we've all considered leaving at one time or another. He didn't have it in him to come back to the team same as I didn't have it in me to go back to medical school as I had planned."

"And none of us felt like working on the Underground. How is Toni doing at that?"

"She has her work cut out for her, but I think she'll be ok. I guess it's probably too much for one person, but for now she can make due."

"We all will. I'm going to pick up some stuff for the Helix. I'll be back in a while. Good luck with calming her down."

"I'll need it." Jesse sighed and phased through the locked bedroom door.

Three hours later.

Brennan stood outside an ice cream shop waiting. When he saw the small brunette approaching he went in and got in line to order.

"Hello, Brennan." Cheri half whispered as she stood next to him. "Get the ice cream to go and we'll talk in the park."

"Strawberry still your flavor?"

"I knew you'd never forget." She turned and walked outside.

A few minutes later Brennan walked out carrying a cone of strawberry for her and one of vanilla for himself and joined the girl.

"So why did you ask me to meet you?" Cheri asked as they strolled in the shade of the old trees.

"I need you to send me back in time."

"Altering things could cause trouble."

"Cheri, I really need this. I've tried living with out her, but I can't do it. If you send me back to a week before she died I wont tell her anything, only try to warn her."

"Meet me tonight. Here at midnight if you want a chance to save her."


	11. Chapter 10

Darkness Falling

Chapter 11.

Note: Well look what we have here! A new chapter! I hope everyone has enjoyed this.

Brennan sat quietly at the table trying to eat. He hoped that Lexa and Jesse were too distracted by their own problems to notice his uneasiness.

"Brennan, are you with us?" Lexa asked.

Brennan shook his head and looked at her. 'Sorry, just thinking."

"Lexa, don't do this right now.' Jesse whispered. "Not today."

Lexa shot Jesse a glare and returned to eating.

Brennan looked at Jesse questioningly but got no response from the blonde molecular. Silently he ate his supper until he noticed a shimmer on Lexa's left hand when she reached for a napkin. "When's the date?"

Lexa and Jesse exchanged a look quickly. Jesse took Lexa's hand and gently stroked her fingers with his.

"We're getting married at the end of the week.' Lexa answered softly. "It's not going to be much of anything. I didn't feel right about having a real wedding so we're just going to the justice of the peace."

"After everything is settled we're going to talk to some people in the Underground who run an adoption agency.' Jesse added.

Brennan stared at the table for a minute, unable to speak. "Congratulations.' He almost whispered. "I need to go take care of some stuff." He got up and left the table.

Midnight at the park.

Brennan walked over to where Cheri was standing. "Lets do this."

"Once you go back I can't control things here. You're past self will be sent to a limbo state and current time will freeze. When I bring you back you will be at a random place. It all depends on how your changes affect things. You could end up back here or across the world." Cheri explained quickly. "I'm sending you back to a week before she died. Don't tell anyone who you really are. Try not to do anything that will affect the time line too much."

"Don't worry. I've done this before."

"I know.' Cheri smirked. "When my cousin Diane sent you back. She told me that you and Ashlocke nearly ruined a lot of things."

"That was all Ashlocke, not me. He wanted to change things, and I only wanted to save the world."

"And in the process you nearly killed my cousin and Jesse."

"Just send me back. I promise not to make direct changes."

"For me to get you back I'll need to be able to trace you." She leaned in and kissed him. "My DNA will be temporarily bonded with yours. I'll be able to trace you and bring you back."

Cheri opened a portal nodded to Brennan. Brennan stepped through and suddenly found himself being whisked through a long dark tunnel.

Suddenly the whole world seemed to come to a stop. He opened his eyes to find himself in bed. The cool crisp sheets brushed against his skin and someone next to him shifted.

Looking over he saw a mess of blonde curls lying on the pillow next to him.

"Shalimar." He whispered as he leaned over and kissed her. He put an arm around her waist and laid close to her as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.


	12. Chapter 11

Redhead2: my computer flipped just as I tried to review your story so I pasted the review here for you. I'll try to send it through the review thing later, but put it her just to make sure you got it

_I almost crying here! Oh my god there are some emotions flying around that place! Poor Jesse! He's so scared, but maybe he'll learn from that. it'll give him a reason to be a much better father than his was._

_Great, great chapter! I am sure that the next update will be just as beautiful, and I'm much looking forward to the promised scene! Now that I have given you your dose of encouragement I'll go type up a nice chapter of my story for you!_

_love__ ya!_

_Bohemianbabe_

Now everyone: This chapter marks Brennan's first day in the past. For the next several chapters we will be again looking at the week before Shalimar died as Brennan tries to set things on a different course. That being said, I could use some ideas from you guys! Were there any scenes in the first go around that you wanted to see? Any particular people you wanted to interact? Just leave me a note in your review and I will see what I can do!

7 days to change things

Brennan woke up as the alarm clocked blared in his ears. For a moment everything felt confusing, but then he remembered it all. He tightened his hold on Shalimar, trying to memorize the feeling again. In a moment of pure passion he pressed his lips to hers in a kiss.

Shalimar woke up when she felt Brennan kissing her. Smiling, she kissed him back. Things did not take long to heat up and they soon found themselves intertwined in pure passion and love.

Shalimar giggled when they finally came down from their high and she settled into Brennan's arms. "Morning."

"Morning yourself." Brennan whispered and gently kissed the top of her head. "What are you going to do today?"

"If it all stays quiet I'm going to read that book I've been trying to finish. You are going shopping with Lexa for my birthday present."

"Are you sure that you want her to go with me? Doesn't Jesse know you better?"

"He and I may think of each other as brother and sister, but he has no taste in gifts. I've tried and tried to teach him, but for some reason he can't learn."

"I don't know. I think he got you something pretty special this year."

"There is one thing he could do to make me happy." She shook her head. "Forget I said that."

"Come on, tell me what you want from him." Brennan coaxed.

"This never leaves this room." She gave him a serious look. "Before you and Emma joined Jesse was on the fast track to being a doctor. Adam had him in contact with some professors who were helping him get there. I guess it was two years before you joined that we started having a few problems. There was an influx of new mutants going into the Underground, and they all needed new identification. I could get the work done, but I was just learning and it took me a while. To help cope with the problem Jesse took incompletes on his classes and started to work fulltime on the Underground. He said he was going to go back after things settled down, but things kept coming up that prevented him from doing it."

"So you want him to go back to school." Brennan guessed.

"I know that right now he can't, but I would love if he could." Shalimar smiled. "He'd make such a great pediatrician."

"It would give them a big step to a normal life."

"Lexa would never like having a normal life, but I think Jess could use the relaxation. It doesn't matter though. The only way Jess could co back to school is if Adam were to come back."

"Adam will be back. It may be a while before it happens, but Adam will be back."

"That's when the fireworks will start. None of us will want to give up the freedom we have. Not to mention the fact that we no longer do the whole secret keeping thing."

"I think that there are parts of our lives that we won't ever share with everyone, but you're right. We don't try to keep each other in the dark when it comes to missions."

"I'm going to get a shower." Shalimar softly kissed him and got out of bed. "I'll see you later. Don't forget about tonight."

"I won't." Brennan promised.

Late that night.

Brennan laid in bed with Shalimar close to him. His fingers slowly ran up and down the sleeping feral's back as he held her. He was deep in thought, trying to figure out how to save the woman. Of all the things he had ever done this was not only the most important, but also the hardest. He refused to mess things up and lose her again. Somehow he would make sure that this time things would turn out right.

Closing his eyes he gently kissed the top of Shalimar's head and drifted off to sleep. He had only a couple more days to figure out how he was going to save the woman, but he could not do it with out some sleep.

Note 2: well there is a treat for you guys. Now we all know why jess had to drop out of medical school! Will things work out so he can go back? Review if you want the next chapter so we can all see!


	13. Chapter 12

Darkness Falling

Bohemianbabe.

Note: some of the scenes will be extremely familiar to you in the next few chapters. As I work on integrating the newer scenes I also have to include some of the ones from earlier chapters. Do make sure to read each carefully because some of the scenes will be lengthened. Also, I have another story up called "Second Chances" it is a j/l story with some s/b in it. Please read it and send me some feedback.

6 days to change things.

That morning

As she ate breakfast Shalimar noticed that Lexa was sitting unusually close to Jesse, and that the other couples body language suggested they had spent the night at least sleeping in the same bed.

Brennan also noticed the two moleculars, but dismissed the whole thing with out a second thought.

The meal was quick and quiet. Both couples were too wrapped up in their own little worlds to really talk as a group.

When the meal was over the boys went out to take care of the various jobs that they had to do while the girls stayed in the kitchen to clean up after breakfast.

"So were you two safe?" Shalimar asked when she was sure the boys were out of hearing range.

Lexa startled at the question, but then smiled. "We didn't do anything last night."

Shalimar raised an eyebrow. "You didn't do anything last night? Not what your body language says."

"We talked, kissed a little and I slept in his room in his bed. No sex involved, not yet anyway."

"You mean in the nearly eight months you two have been 'together' you haven't had sex with him?"

"Jesse and I aren't together. I thought that you understood that I wasn't looking for a relationship."

"Doesn't mean that you two wouldn't have." she wiped a plate dry and put it away in the cabinet. "So did you help Brennan pick out my birthday present?"

"I did and all I can say is that you will love it. It took him forever to pick out though."

"I'm sure it is perfect. I think we're going to a club tonight if you and Jesse want to come."

"Exactly how do you expect me to get the nerd wonder away from his computer for that long?"

"I'm sure if you promised him a reward he'd leave the computers alone for a while."

"I don't think I'm up to a night out." Lexa put away the final fork and turned to face Shalimar. "That temporary treatment Jesse tried on me is starting to wear off."

"You haven't told him yet have you?"

"I figure he's got enough to worry about right now and I don't need to add to the stress load. I'd be the straw that broke the camel's back."

"If you don't tell him and you end up dead it would be worse on him. You know how he feels about you."

"I know that it makes him weak, and that if he's not careful his feelings will get in the way and he'll get sloppy in his work."

"Don't worry about Jesse so much. He knows how to separate himself from personal feelings when work needs him too."

"I'll talk to him about the treatment wearing off, but I'm not promising anything else."

"You do that much and I'll let you have a couple of days off before I start to make you crazy about telling him how you feel."

The two women laughed and then walked out of the kitchen.

Lexa headed to the lab where she knew that Jesse was hard at work going through files to find a way to permanently stabilize her.

"Having fun?" she asked as she leaned on the counter.

"I wouldn't exactly call this fun." Jesse looked up at her. "Did Shal give you a hard time?"

"What do you mean?" Lexa asked coyly.

"She's got to know that you slept in my room last night. You haven't showered so my scent must be pretty strong on you from where you were all cuddled up with me."

"She just wanted to make sure that we acted like responsible adults. I think she's scared we're going to act like teenagers and have a baby."

"Just like her to play overprotective big sister." Jesse shook his head. "So did you want me for something?"

"You're not going to be too happy when I tell you this. My last treatment is starting to wear off. I can feel control of my powers slipping."

"Damn it!" he hit his fist on the counter. "I thought this one was going to last longer. Let me scan you and I'll see what I can get for you."

"This is not your fault." She walked around the counter to stand by him. Gently putting her hands on his shoulders she turned him to face her and then lightly kissed him. "You have done absolutely everything you could to stabilize me. Jess, you can't expect to find the answer in just a few tries. It took Edison hundreds of tries to find the filament for the light bulb."

"I don't have time for hundreds of tries. I don't even know exactly when your date was. The last time Adam was here he locked that bit of information away from me. I can tell you the date for Brennan or Shal, but not for you."

"Then get to work. It's Schrödinger's cat. As long as you don't know how long I have you're free to assume that you have years to work."

"I just don't want to mess this one up. This goes beyond you three to all of new mutants."

"Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders will make you old before your time." Lexa stepped away from him and walked over to the scan chair. "Let's see if we can't save you from that weight a little sooner."

That evening.

Lexa laid her head on Jesse's shoulder as a slow song played. The couple had started out sitting silently in the booth while Jesse worked on his handheld computer, but with the urging of Brennan and Shalimar and the help of several strongly intoxicating drinks they had managed to make it to the dance floor.

Brennan and Shalimar now sat in the corner both. Shalimar leaned against Brennan and closed her eyes as she listened to the music.

"So how did you talk them into coming?" Brennan asked as he looked at the two on the dance floor.

"It is a woman's touch. Somehow I get the feeling that they are going to stay that close for a while tonight." She smiled slightly. "Maybe all night."

"Score for Jesse. So what about us? You planning on sleeping in my room or do I have to invade your room?"

"I'd say that you could share a room with me tonight. Come to my room after we get home and shower."

"I'll look forward to it." He kissed the top of her head. "I don't suppose you'll be up to a little fun then will you?"

"If you can behave yourself we might have some fun." She twisted in the booth so she could press her lips to his. "But knowing you that will be nearly impossible."

That night.

Shalimar lay in Brennan's arms as they drifted off to sleep. From the faint laughter she could hear from down the hall she knew that the next morning would have its share of interesting conversations, but she looked forward to the finality she knew that tonight was bringing for Jesse and Lexa. Now that the raven haired woman had allowed herself to step into the relationship it was certain that the couple would stay together. Shalimar smiled, knowing that somehow Lexa's love would get Jesse through the work he had to do.


	14. Chapter 13

Darkness Falling

Bohemianbabe

Note: We are slowly reaching the end of the story! After this chapter there are only 6 chapters left. Fortunately for all of you I do have my new story 'Second Chances' well underway. And also, soon the story "She's Having My Baby" will be re-posted. It was originally posted under the mxangel account, but will now be here. I hope that those of you who loved it before will read it, and I promise that this time you will get to read it to completion!

Also, in the last chapter I made a reference to Schrödinger's Cat. I probably should explain that for those who do not understand. The theory says that there is a close box. Inside that box there is a cat, and the cat has been there for quite a while. Until the box is opened it is practically impossible to know for sure if the cat is still alive or not, so as long as the box is closed the cat is both alive and dead. If any of you watch the CBS show NUMB3RS you should have heard this term. In the previous chapter the term was used to mean that Lexa both had all of time or only a few seconds to live, and that until something was done to show which it could be either one as chosen.

5 days to change things.

Shalimar woke up extra early as her alarm clock went off. For the first time ever she was glad she had been the designated driver and did not have a hangover to sleep off. As quietly and carefully as she could she slipped out of bed and dressed. She made a quick stop to the kitchen and grabbed a drinkable yogurt, but then went to the garage to get into her car.

With the radio playing she drove into town and to the mall. After parking she headed in and went straight to her favorite store. It took her only a few minutes to find exactly what she was looking for. The dress was a deep burgundy made of a soft silk. The neck line plunged down low and there was a slit on one side that went to mid-thigh.

After she tried on the dress to make sure that it fit she took it, paid for it, and went back to Sanctuary. With careful moves she made sure that no one saw her so that her dress would be a surprise when she finally wore it. She took the dress out of its bag, put it on, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Thinking carefully as she looked at her reflection Shalimar decided that the dress would look best with the diamond necklace Adam had bought her after she graduated from high school.

She pulled the necklace out of its velvet lined box and carefully fastened the clasp then looked back in the mirror. She smiled at the reflection and decided that she had been right about the necklace. Carefully she took off both the dress and the necklace and put them away safely.

She heard someone knocking on the door and quickly pulled back on her clothes. "Come in."

Lexa opened the door, stepped in the room, and closed the door tightly behind her. "We need to talk."

"Sounds serious." Shalimar sat down on her bed and signaled Lexa to join her. "What's up?"

"I guess its no secret what happened between me and Jess last night after we got back home."

"Not really. You having regrets about it?"

"Not so much about what we did as I am about how we did it."

"How you did it? That isn't making much since to me."

"Well you know its been a long time since he has, and well I'm not on any thing…"

"And he didn't have anything?"

"Exactly. I really thought that we were safe, but I was flipping through a calendar, and well I'm not so sure that we are."

"Well if you need me to I can run the scans so Jesse doesn't have to know."

"Thanks." Lexa was still visibly shaken. "I really cant deal with this, at least not now."

"Its no secret that you don't want to have kids. I guess I should check into the other options you'd have just in case."

"No, don't bother." Lexa pushed a strand of hair back from her face. "If it turns out that I did get pregnant because of my stupidity last night, well I know a good prenatal specialist."

"Prenatal specialist? You'd actually go through with a pregnancy?" Shalimar stared at Lexa in shock.

Two hours later.

Shalimar walked into the lab and found Jesse working at his computer.

"You having any luck?"

"Not really. I guess I'm too tired to think. Didn't sleep all that well last night."

"Oh I know you didn't get much sleep last night. Actually that reminds me of something."

"What does it remind you of?" Jesse gave her a weird look.

"I was just wondering about what would happen with those stabilization formulas you are trying if it was used on a pregnant woman."

"I guess worst case scenario the pregnancy would be terminated. You don't have something you're not telling me do you?"

"I'm not pregnant, I would tell you if I was."

"Good." he shook his head as an idea came to him. "God forbid I be right, but is Lexa?"

"It wouldn't be my place to say if she was."

"Right now I don't care whose place it would be. I don't know what could happen to a pregnant woman, and if she is I really need to know."

"If she was I'd tell you, but as far as I know she isn't."

"She scared because of last night?"

"A little. She is at a disadvantage with this one."

"I'll go talk to her later."

"Just don't tell her I told you anything. Let her think you came up with the idea on your own."

"Right. I'll still be bracing myself for the worst." He looked down at the key board. "Part of the reason I never pushed her for a relationship was because I knew eventually the subject of kids would come up again."

"Because she doesn't want to have kids?"

"Even as much as I love her I couldn't choose between her or having a chance to raise kids of my own."

"So if Alicia came back you'd go with her because she'd probably be willing to have kids?"

"I never said that."

"So what are you saying?"

"That I cant deal with only having one or the other. If I stay with Lexa I can forget the idea of having kids with her, but if I go with having kids I lose Lexa. After all I've done with helping others and saving the world over and over with out any thanks I think I'm entitled to have both."

"You are. Just talk to her Jess, and tell her what you told me."

"Do you want her to yell at me?"

"Just humor me."

"Alright, I'll talk to her."

"Good. Now go get to it."

"You know, one of these days you will actually learn how important my computer work is."

"Somehow I doubt that."

"You're right." Jesse smirked. "I doubt you will too."

An hour later.

Jesse walked into Lexa's room trying not to appear too obvious. "Can we talk?"

"I don't know. It would depend on what you want to talk with me about." Lexa answered calmly.

"Are you sure that last night was alright?"

"I thought I made it pretty clear to you that I was happy last night, and that I'd be coming back to you again soon." Lexa smirked. "Now stop with this male insecurity and go get back to your computer work."

"You know that is not what I'm talking about. We didn't take the safest route last night."

"You almost sound like you want me to be worried about something." She made a mental note to have a serious discussion with Shalimar later. "I don't know how to make you believe this, but last night was safe. You're not going to have to tell me that I'm pregnant."

"If you're sure."

"I am." Lexa confirmed. "Are we good now?"

"I guess. You mind if I ask you something?"

"You would ask even if I did mind."

"What kind of future do we have? Is this just a fling for you or is there a chance of us actually settling down and staying together?"

"I didn't get into this with you looking for a relationship. We've both got expectations for our lives, and yours are different from mine. You want to do the whole thing with a wife and kids, and all I really want is a stable guy. I don't even really care about a marriage. So if you are saying that you're going to set out to get exactly what you want don't look here."

"I get the fact that I'm probably going to be forced to choose between having you or having a family of my own, but after all I've done with helping others and saving the world over and over with out any thanks I think I'm entitled to have both. I want to be with you for the rest of our lives. If you really think we're not going anywhere at all just tell me."

Lexa took a breath, trying to concentrate only on dealing with Jesse. Her fight with Shalimar would have to wait until she had calmed her boyfriend down. "What I think is that right now we don't know how much time I have. I am trying not to think about the future until I know that I will actually be around to see it. I'm sorry if you think that I don't want to be with you in the way you want me to, but until I know for a fact that I'm not going to die because of my powers I can't really do anything. So yes, at least for now this is only a fling that will dead end."

Jesse took in a deep breath and then let it out. "The scary thing is that I'm all right with us just being a fling."

"Good." She got up and walked over to him. Putting her hands on his face she leaned in and kissed him. "Wait here. I have something that I need to take care of but then I'll be back and we can enjoy our little 'fling' some more."

Jesse kissed her again. "I wish we could. I really need to get some work done on finding the cure though. We'll wait till tonight."

"Good plan." She gave him a final kiss and then stepped away from him. "I'll have time to run out and pick some stuff up so we don't have to worry about us accidentally getting into any trouble."

That night

After having looked for the feral all afternoon Lexa finally saw the blonde woman heading to her bedroom. Following the feral Lexa stormed into Shalimar's bedroom in full rage. "How could you do that to me!"

"Do what?" Shalimar asked cautiously.

"You told Jesse! I thought I didn't have to spell out that I didn't want him to know!"

"I didn't flat out tell him. I was trying to find out if there was any danger for you to be taking those antidotes if you were pregnant. He pulled more out of the things I left unsaid."

"You know what it doesn't matter. I'm never going to trust you like that again."

Lexa stormed back out of the room leaving Shalimar in shock. The raven haired woman made her way to her own room and practically threw herself into Jesse's arms as she let him calm her back down. With her rage making her desire stronger they spent the night once again solidifying all that was unsaid between them.


	15. Chapter 14

Darkness Falling

Bohemianbabe

Ok guys. Fast approaching the end of the story! It will almost be a relief to have one thing that I can put on the list as finished. I hope that all of you are also reading "Second Chances". It looks like things are slowly falling back into place with the writing. I have re-written most all of the one shots I had lost, and fortunately had one that a friend had saved.

miss feral's revenge: i know that i havent been online lately, but neither have you. i'll try to catch you sometime this week. then you can pester me for more chapters.

everyone: my work will have my traveling a lot this summer. i will be trying very hard to get all of my writing in as much as i can but i cant promise a lot of updates. i will give it my all though. i hope that you will stick through this insanity with my and maybe even bring a few more of your friends into my little following. i appreciate all of the reviews i have gotten so far. each time i have felt like giving up one of you has sent me a review that has kept me going. i'd especially like to thank redhead2. she has given me many a smile on days when things have gone wrong. both in her stories and in her reviews.

and of course there is a whole longer list of writers whom i greatly appreciate. you all know who you are due to the reviews i have sent to each and everyone of you. keep up hte good work.

Now on to our story!

4 days to change things.

Shalimar walked into the kitchen to help Lexa prepare breakfast only to be greeted with an icy stare from the other woman. She knew that Lexa could hold a grudge, but had hoped that maybe the brunette's harsh words the day before had only been from the heat of the moment. Now, being bored through by the all-all-too-cool, cool blue eyes she knew that she had been wrong.

"I really am sorry about yesterday." She said as she walked over to the counter and started to measure up the coffee.

"You are sorry about yesterday! I think that's about the most irritating thing you've ever said to me since I got here!" Lexa shook her head. "For a group that has preached to me about trust you sure don't seem to practice it yourselves."

"I just was trying to find out if continuing the treatments would kill you, or possibly the baby if there was one. I did not go in there and tell him that you thought there was a possibility. That is something that you should tell him, not someone else; if it ever happened."

"So how exactly did it come to him searching me out and bombarding me with questions about how I felt about things? And he did ask me about everything, from kids to marriage."

"He came up with it on his own. All I did was answer him when he asked if you were scared because of the night before. I didn't even spell out what you were scared about. He's smart and he loves you."

"I told him and I'm telling you, that 'love' word is not something I ever want to hear. I've lived for as long as I have by breaking off all personal feelings, and the few I allowed myself to start feeling here have been the cause of a lot of pain lately. Maybe it's not the happiest way to live, but it is a lot easier."

"You can have the kitchen to yourself." Shalimar turned and walked out of the room. She was already stressed from the knowledge that maybe she had stepped over a few lines when she had talked to Jesse before, and arguing with Lexa was not going to do anything to help alleviate that stress.

Walking down the hall she inwardly cringed when she saw Jesse headed toward her. She knew that she had nowhere to hide, and therefore no way to get out of talking to him. It was a certainty that the man would want to talk to her, even if she did want to avoid that particular ritual for a while longer.

"Shal, have you got a few minutes?" Jesse asked when he reached her.

"Sure." She gave him her best fake smile and followed him over to the sofa. "What's on your mind?"

"I get the feeling you already half know so I'll just go straight to the point. I all but proposed to her last night and then she made it perfectly clear that she doesn't want a relationship."

"I don't think it was so much you as it was her angry with me. She thinks I went straight to you and told you everything she and I had talked about earlier."

"So that's why you were so selective in how you said things yesterday. You were trying to tell me with out telling me."

"I just wanted to make sure that your antidotes wouldn't kill her or the baby if there was one."

"She wouldn't have cared if the pregnancy had been terminated, only if her life had been put in danger and she might have been ok with that. She misses her brother."

"I know she misses him, but I also know you're wrong about something. Since I already told you most of it I may as well seal my fate. If she is pregnant she plans on keeping the baby. She said that she wouldn't have a baby with any other man, but with you it is different. Even though she won't say it, I think she really does love you."

"Lets not go there for now, at least not about me and Lexa. You and Bren have any plans for marriage or kids?"

"We've talked about it. He and I would both love to have kids, one day; and we would like to have those kids together. I guess time will tell how that all works out."

"He'll be good for you. Adam and I always saw it. We used to talk about it when I was helping him with the lab work. You know, looking back I wonder if he really needed the extra set of hands or if he knew that I'd eventually have to be the one in there."

"Maybe it was a little of both. I wish he was here so we could all stop living with a death sentence over our heads. I think that once Lexa can stop worrying about her life being on the line she can start learning to be in a relationship. Not to mention the fact that you could use the sleep and rest. You may not have to worry about your powers killing you, but you are going to kill yourself from exhaustion if you aren't careful."

"There will be plenty of time for me to rest after you three are stabilized. For now I get to enjoy what was always Adam's job, worrying about everyone."

"Just don't kill yourself before you save the rest of us."

"I won't." Jesse gave her a gentle smile and then stood up to leave. "I'll try to calm her down for you."

"Don't worry about it."

"Guys I've got something!" Brennan called as he ran into the room. "There was a message sent to our computer last night. It's from Adam."

"Let's go see what is in the message." Jesse said as he headed to the computers. He sat down and quickly pulled up the video message.

_"Jesse, Brennan, Shalimar, and hopefully Lexa, I'm sending this message to you because there has been a slight break in the situation. I know that it has been a long time since the day that I was lead off by the Creator and the others with the Dominion, and I am hoping that you are all well. According to the original dates Lexa should have died a month ago, but I'm hoping that my capable student has found a way to at least prolong her life in his search for a cure. If he hasn't then I address you, Brennan and Shalimar, more than I address him. _

_"If Lexa is gone the only job I have for Jesse to do is decoding this message for the coordinates. I am giving you strict orders to let him grieve for her as long as he needs to. I know that when he lost Emma he never got the chance to grieve for her, and I do not want that building up to bring him to a breaking point. If this does not work he may be the only chance that new mutants have._

_"Once you have the coordinates wait for my next message. It will tell you when to meet me, and it will be sent to you in two days. I know that this time frame will make preparations and Jesse's decoding that much more difficult but it is the only chance we may have at this working. _

_"The good news is that after this meeting takes place there will no longer be such a death sentence for new mutants. I am hoping that I have reached you before it is too late, but I am even more hoping that this wasn't necessary at all. I have all faith in the belief that Jesse could find the cure on his own; that is why I have been careful not to contact you until I was sure that our meeting would not be intercepted. _

_"I leave you all for now, and will hope to see you at the assigned place and time."_ The recording ended, leaving the three in silence.

"So I guess Jesse did his work pretty well since I'm still alive." Lexa said from the doorway. Seeing the tears that were starting to form in Jesse's eyes she walked over to him and gently pressed her lips to his. "I need to talk to him alone."

Shalimar and Brennan nodded and walked out of the room, heading off for the rec area.

"So I guess that Jess is quite a bit smarter than we ever thought he was." Brennan said as he sat down on one of the sofas.

"More like smarter than you thought he was. I always knew exactly how smart Jess was; remember what I told you about him and the almost medical degree."

"It looks like he might have a shot at completing it now."

"I don't know. It's been a long time since he was in school, and after all the time that has passed I'm not sure that he'd be happy to just go back to that kind of thing." Shalimar sighed and leaned back in Brennan's arms. "I really wish he hadn't been forced to drop out in the first place."

"We all have things that we wish could have turned out differently." Brennan answered in a bitter sweet tone. He now only had four days to come up with a way to save Shalimar. "It would be nice if we could all just go back in time and fix everything that went wrong."

"It would be. But then I guess there are some mistakes that have to happen so we can have a chance to find something better. If Adam's research hadn't gone the way that it did you and I might have never met."

"Good point." Brennan sighed. "I still wouldn't mind changing just a little of the small mistakes though. Things like waiting so long to tell you the truth about how much I love you."

"That almost became you're biggest mistake." She took his hand in hers. "I've been thinking about what I want when we finally get married."

"What you want?"

"Planning the wedding and all." She tightened her hold on his hand. "Let's just have a small ceremony. Maybe even just the two of us and a witness."

"You don't want a real wedding?" Brennan asked in surprise. He always had wondered why she had not protested to his idea to get married the night of her birthday with out any of their friends being there.

"It hardly seems fair to have a real wedding. Emma's gone and so is my father. I wouldn't know where to begin looking for my mother and even if I did it wouldn't feel right with out at least one of your parents there."

"So you don't even want a small ceremony with just Jesse, Lexa, and Adam there?"

"I want them to be a part of it, but I think that when we exchange our vows I'd rather it be more intimate. Just the two of us and who ever marries us. We could have a small celebration afterwards with the others."

"You think about it and make sure that it is what you want. I'm willing to do this anyway you choose."

"Thank you." She whispered. "Now let's just spend the rest of the day together."


	16. Chapter 15

hey guys. most of this one is a recap of the companion chapter. i promise that i will have a better chapter next time. please forgive me formy late night writing. read and review!

Darkness Falling

3 Days to change things

Shalimar walked into the computer area to find Jesse hard at work. He had begun the decoding process immediately after he and Lexa had finished talking the day before, and had only stopped working when he had to. After nearly twenty four hours, Shalimar hoped that he was nearing the end of his work.

"There." Jesse said as he pressed a final button. The numbers on the screen disappeared and were replaced by a map.

"You broke the inscription?" Shalimar asked as she walked over to him.

"Finally. Now all we have to do is to wait for the next message." Jesse printed off the map and then turned to face her. "I didn't get a chance to talk to her yet, but I promise I'll do it soon. Yesterday was too much about me and her for me to explain why you did what you did."

"It's ok. I understand that you needed to talk about other things. She and I will eventually reconcile."

"We both know how badly she holds a grudge." Jesse turned back around and turned off the computer. "I'm going to get some sleep since I hardly got any last night."

"Just don't let Lexa join you or you'll never get any sleep."

"Like I'm going to deny her of her fun if she wants it." He smirked slightly. "I'm too tired to deal with her right now. I'll spend some time with her later."

"It will be nice to get you out of the lab for a while. I was beginning to think that you were going to move in there."

"I know it always felt like Adam lived in there." Jesse shook his head. "He sounded so confident that I could have found the cure. He knows I don't have much medical or science training with the exception of what he taught me."

"He taught you well. I think you had it right when you said you thought he was teaching you so you could take his place." Shalimar looked down at the floor for a second. "I have felt very safe putting my health in your hands over the past two years."

"You always know what to say to me. I guess that is what happens after living with a person for what, nearly fifteen years now?"

"Yeah. You know you'll be thirty-one soon. I can't believe how much time has past since the day you walked into Sanctuary."

"Do we really have to make a trip down memory lane?"

"We'll save it for my birthday." She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. "Go get yourself some rest."

"Love you, Sis."

"Love you too, Little Brother." Shalimar smiled and watched him walk out of the room.

"So are you done telling him the newest batch of secrets you've gathered?" Lexa asked as she walked into the room. She sat down at the computer and turned it back on.

"Lexa, I was really only looking out for you. I did not want to do anything that would break your trust in me."

"What you did was a good thing." Lexa answered icily. "You reminded me why I shouldn't trust people."

"I guess that means you are through playing around at a relationship with Jesse?"

Lexa snapped her view up to look at the blonde woman. "What happens between me and Jesse is our business. If you have any kind of problem with us, say it to my face instead of hinting around at things."

"I've got no problem with you two being together. I'm just saying that relationships are built on trust, and if you're not going to trust people I don't see how you are going to learn to let him love you and to love him back."

"I think that my emotions have already been messed with enough by you. Now if you don't mind I have got some work that I'm supposed to be doing."

"Just remember that he is my family, and that he was my family long before he became whatever it is he is to you. If you hurt him in any way I promise you that you will regret doing it, you might even regret the day you were born." Shalimar turned and walked out of the room.

"I already regret the day I was born." Lexa muttered under her breath as she opened a file. She smiled slightly as she read the first line of type aloud to herself. "Lina Blair Kilmartin or Benito Willem Kilmartin." She stared at the names for a second and then closed out the computer.

Quietly walking she made her way to Jesse's room. She opened the door slightly and smiled as she watched him sleep. He had come in and crashed on the bed without bothering to take off anything but his shoes. She slipped into the room and picked up a blanket from the foot of his bed. Gently kissing his forehead as she leaned down over him, she covered him with the blanket and then left the room, closing the door behind her.

"So he finally managed to break the inscription?" Brennan asked when he saw Lexa leaving Jesse's room.

"Not too long ago. He was up all night working on it. I'll be glad when the mission is over and we have Adam back here so Jess can finally get some rest. He's been working almost non-stop since the day we lost Sanctuary and the Helix."

"We're all worried about him. He pulled through this kind of work for years under Adam's supervision so I'm pretty sure that he can handle another day or two of it." Brennan fell silent for a minute. "Do you want to go watch a movie or something? Shal is doing some sort of spa day thing since her birthday is in two days and Jess needs the sleep."

"I guess that could be fun. Better than worrying over the 'what ifs' of meeting Adam."

"It's not gonna be easy to bring him back here. Things have changed so much in this last year."

"You're right about that one. The last time I really worked in the same place as Adam he was my leader, in the last year we haven't had a leader. It is going to take a lot of getting used to that feeling again."

"Somehow I don't think he's going to come back in as our leader. I think this time around we'll all be equals."

"And maybe a few other things will change." Lexa smiled slightly. "Jesse is considering going back to college."

"Shal vaguely mentioned something about him having done a few years of school."

"He has a degree in English literature, and had started to study some medicine before he dropped out. I think he was just about done with the majority of his pre-med classes."

"So what when Adam comes back he's going to go back to college and finish getting his medical degree?"

"He might. He just doesn't want to bring up the subject around Shal since she got upset when he dropped out last time."

"I guess that a lot more things make sense, especially the fact that he was able to take over the lab work with out too much trouble." Brennan shook his head. "I just can't believe he never told me about it."

"Like I said, it's a sore spot with your girlfriend. She wanted him to finish getting the degree, but he felt it would be better to focus on his job with the Underground. I think he intended to go back when things settled down, but things never really settle down around here."

"So how did you find it out since he never talks about it?"

"I found the degree stashed away in a drawer when I was helping him go through the stuff that had survived the explosion. It's a good thing the bed rooms were on the other side of Sanctuary or everything might have been destroyed."

"I've thought of that every time I've played my guitar since that day. A lot of memories would have been lost if Adam hadn't made that provision."

"You'd better be careful or one of the others could see you going all soft with me." Lexa laughed.

"We'll just have to go watch us a real kick-butt action movie then."

Lexa smiled as she and Brennan walked down the hallway. "So, you ready for the big night?"

"You mean the birthday party?" Brennan looked at her. "Are you still coming?"

"Yeah, mostly to make Jess happy, but I guess somewhere the little loyalty I have to all of you is pulling me to go to the party. This is why I swore I'd never have friends."

"You know that the only reason she said anything to Jesse was because she was worried. She knows how much he cares about you, and we both care about you too. None of us want to see anything happen to you."

"I can take care of myself. I just don't see a point in worrying him over nothing. He's got a lot on his shoulders and I feel bad enough about having a relationship with him right now."

"One thing that I have learned, all relationships require people to take risks sometimes. She was worried about you, Jess, and any possible future you might have with him. I wont condone what she did, but you have to realize why she felt she had to."

"Somehow I get the feeling that Jess was supposed to give me that talk." she shook her head. "I'll think about it all right?"

"Fair enough."

That night.

Shalimar lay back in Brennan's bed trying to get herself to fall asleep. It had been a long day, and the next couple of days would be filled with even more excitement. Tomorrow they would get their next message from Adam, and be that much closer to having a chance at a real life; and then there was her birthday. For the past few days she had heard Brennan, Jesse, and Lexa whisper about some big surprise, but she could not figure out what it was.

Closing her eyes she let her senses do a sweep of Sanctuary. Once she was certain that everything and everyone was alright she managed to fall asleep.


	17. Chapter 16

We're so close! Read and review guys!

Darkness Falling

2 Days to change things.

The group of four sat impatiently waiting on the sofa near the computers. Lexa had been careful to position herself with both Jesse and Brennan between her and Shalimar. The two women were at an uneasy truce as they waited for the message from Adam.

When the computer finally beeped to signal that a new message had arrived the group jumped. Taking a deep breath Jesse got up and walked over to the computer. The other three followed as Jesse began to punch in the codes to play the message.

"Hopefully Jesse has decoded the coordinates that I send in the first message. I know that tomorrow is Shalimar's birthday and I wish that I could be with her then. I hate the fact that I have to make it three years in a row that I have missed the celebration.

"With that said, the day after tomorrow is the day we will meet. You are to arrive at one p.m. and I will be joining you in fifteen minutes from that time. If Lexa is indeed still with us I want her to remain at Sanctuary while the mission is in progress. Jesse has his choice to stay home with her or come to the meeting.

"I must cut this short. I will see all of you in two days." The message ended and Adam's image disappeared from the screen.

"I refuse to be left at home while the rest of you go get him." Lexa stated and crossed her arms over her chest.

Jesse, Brennan, and Shalimar exchanged glances quickly.

"We're staying here, Lexa." Jesse replied calmly. Reaching out he took her hand and pulled her to him. "I'm this close to getting to keep you forever and I'm not about to let you get away from me because of something this simple. Shalimar and Brennan can handle this one."

"None of you have even considered the possibility that this is just a set up." Lexa said as she snatched away from Jesse and began to pace back and forth in front of the others. "For all we know he's being forced to do this so someone can lure us out to kill us. If that's the case we are going to all need to go in."

"We have thought about that, Lexa." Brennan answered with an uncharacteristic calm. "If it was a trap to lure us out Adam would have never told you and Jesse to stay home. Shalimar and I will take our chances on this one."

Lexa shot Jesse a glare and left the room.

"She'll calm down later." Jesse said as he turned to face the computer. "You guys can go do whatever you need to do. I'll stay here and work on these security systems."

"I'm going to chance and then head to the dojo for a bit of a workout." Shalimar said as she gathered up her blonde locks into a thick pony tail.

"Bren, you want to come join me?"

"I'll be along." Brennan watched as the feral walked out and then turned back to Jesse. "You really think it's going to be that easy to leave her here."

"I'm not stupid. She'll be fine, upset but fine."

"So are you going to try to go back to school?"

Jesse turned to face him, his expression that of sheer surprise. "I guess I might. I mean, I regret that I dropped out back then; but going back to pre-med would be hard after nearly ten years."

"It could be a step towards a normal life. A normal job, and maybe a wife and kids later."

"A normal life, now there is a good joke. Lexa would never agree to it. She loves the thrill of putting her life on the lone, and I love this work just as much as she does." Jesse typed in a few more commands on the computer. "Which one told you?"

"Lexa did and Shal mentioned something about it the other day." Brennan took a deep breath as he thought back to the conversation with the woman. "Lexa sounded really proud of you. I'm not sure if it was the English lit degree or the start into pre-med, but she really sounded proud."

"She nearly flipped out when she found the English Lit degree. I guess she always say you as the poetry person and thought of me as the computer geek."

"The computer guy is the one we all know. I guess even after all these years we still have our secrets."

"And with Adam coming back there will be even more secrets around here." Jesse sighed. "It will be nice to know that you three aren't going to die because of your powers, but I'm not looking forward to going back to all the secrets and the 'need-to-know-basis' information."

"Then we tell him that we can't operate like that anymore. It might take some time, but I'm pretty sure we'll get our point across."

"On that note I'll get to work on a file or our recent missions so we can prove that equal power does work well."

"Good luck, man." Brennan said as he walked out of the room. He headed to the Dojo, thinking about things along the way. Their missions had changed a lot over the last several months, and he knew that things changed even more in the future. Now, since Adam was no longer around to tell them which missions they had to do and the Dominion was gone as well. In their newfound freedom they had begun to work on restoring the New Mutant Underground, a long tedious task.

In the future things would also be very much the same, but from the direction he had come from it was a lonely sad place. Shalimar's death had affected him, but more so it had affected the other new mutants that he had long ago sworn to protect. He could still remember the swarms of people that had shown up at the funeral. Cheri had been there, but in the back ground where no one could ask her to do anything. It was then that she had made the promise to Brennan. The one promise that, along with another she had given long before, could change the world.

He only had to wait a year, if he was not able to start getting over the pain she would give him a chance to make things right. It had been a reluctant promise on her part, but somehow he knew that she felt it was the right thing to do. Each day it seemed that more and more new mutants went bad and tried to kill their own kind or take over the world, and with a heart-broken team it was just a little hard to stop those things from happening. It had also become impossible to protect the ones that were not corrupt.

This week in the past was both a blessing and a curse. Everything that he had missed was right there in front of him, and unlike in the dreams he had had about this, he could actually reach out and grasp them. It was not a perfect world, but he was with the woman that he loved.

Of course the pain of knowing that it would all end in just a couple of days was also hard. Even armed with the knowledge that he had there was still a chance that he could mes it up an loose her forever. There was no room for error this time around. If he missed this chance there would not be another.

He stepped into the dojo and watched Shalimar for a minute, amazed by her natural grace. "You ready to work with me?"

Shalimar stopped where she was and then reached over and turned off the holograms. "I'm ready, but are you?"

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Brennan stepped up on to the platform and took a defensive stance.

Shalimar dropped into a fighting stance and took a swing at Brennan. He blocked her hit and caught her wrist, pulling her to him. They stood staring into each other's eyes for a minute an then kissed.

2 hours later.

Jesse walked down the hall and stopped in front of Lexa's door. He had hoped that two hours was long enough for the woman to calm down, but he still heard the sound of things being thrown against the wall. Taking a moment to gather up the much needed courage, he opened the door and stepped into the room.

Lexa turned and looked at Jesse, a mix of hurt and anger in her eyes. "Don't you even dare try to calm me down!"

"Lexa, please listen." he reached to take her hand, but she slapped him away. "Don't play this game. Come on and talk to me."

"I'm not prepared to talk to you!" she turned back away from him. "You and the others went to behind my back and discussed this mission with out even getting my advise! I don't think that this is what I wanted for a relationship with you!"

"We knew that you'd never agree to staying here." he took a step towards her. "I'm just trying to do what is right for you, for us."

"If you don't watch your step there will be no more us. You can't preach to me about being more open and then go in and pull the same stunts that you tell me not to."

"And if you get killed or your powers completely destabilize there wont be us. I'm keeping you here because I love you. I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Nothing is going to happen to me." she turned around and leaned into him. "You and I are going to be alright, but you'll have to learn that I'm still at least partially the woman you met. If you want to stop me from doing something you are going to have to take action, make me stay away from whatever it is by physical force or trickery. You cant just tell me no and expect me to listen."

He put his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. "I'm not used to the trickery, so you're going to have to learn to listen to me when I say no." he stepped back from her and took her hand, leading her over to the bed. "You're not doing to bad at following some directions."

"Am I the one who can follow directions or are you?" Lexa whispered and kissed him.

That evening.

The group of four crashed out in the rec room to watch a movie. Jesse and Lexa were in one of the chairs, her sitting in his lap; while Shalimar and Brennan were cuddled on the sofa.

Now that the two couples had managed to talk the day was much more relaxed. For the first time in several days there was no evil stares between Shalimar and Lexa. The two women still felt tension between themselves, but now that they were completely at peace with their men they were more relaxed with each other.

Shalimar watched as Lexa started to fidget. Even though the raven haired woman had resolved the issue with Jesse she had yet to talk to Brennan or Shalimar about her problem with the private discussion. It would never be easy for them to talk to her about their decision to exclude her. The biggest problem in their relationships would always be the choices that they had to make.

It seemed that everything that happened between them was about lies and secrets. With Adam's return they were all prepared for the possibility of more secrets. Even with Jesse's proof that their new system of openness and truthfulness, they were not convinced that things would stay the same. In only forty-eight hours they would get their answer


	18. Chapter 17

Darkness Falling

Chapter 17

1 day to change things.

The next day

Early Morning.

Lexa woke up slowly, trying to enjoy every second of being in Jesse's arms. They had spent the night cuddling and talking before they fell asleep, and for once she was happy to be awake.

It was going to be a long day. She still had not forgive Shalimar, and today was going to be all about Shal. Jesse had plans to go pick up his present for his sister, and had mentioned something about going by a med school. She hoped that he was considering going back to finish his degree, it would be nice to be dating a doctor, as long as he was kept straight about who he belonged to that was.

She gently kissed him and laid her head on his chest.

Jesse woke up at the feel of Lexa's lips against his, and put an arm around her waist. "Morning, Lex." he whispered.

"Do you really have to go run those errands today? It would be a lot more fun for us to just stay in bed all day." she slid closer to him so she could whisper in his ear. "I picked up the new copy of _Redbook_ and it had some very interesting ideas in it."

"Maybe tonight." he kissed her forehead. "We will have the place to ourselves because Brennan has a bit of a plan for Shalimar. He's taking her somewhere nice after dinner."

"Alright." she sighed. "But do we have to get out of bed now?"

"I guess we could stay for a while longer." He pulled her to him for a long, slow kiss. "But you have to make it worth my time."

"Oh I can do that." Lexa promised.

That Afternoon

Shalimar stood in front of her bathroom counter as she began to carefully style her hair. With slow motions she twisted up a section of hair around her curling iron, after a few moments she unwound the section and let it fall in a thick ringlet. One at a time she curled the sections of her hair until it was all laying in soft ringlets about her face. She pulled her hair back from her face with a set of diamond encrusted combs but let the rest of it fall loosely.

She quickly applied her make-up and then opened the zippered bag that held the burgundy dress. Very carefully she put the dress on and then her jewelry. With one final touch to her hair she was ready. On the way out the door of her room she lightly sprayed herself with her perfume and picked up her purse and shoes.

Jesse, Brennan, and Lexa were waiting in the rec room. Lexa stood in front of Jesse, straitening his tie and the collar of his shirt. Once she was satisfied that he looked right she lightly pressed her lips to his in a gentle kiss.

Brennan and Shalimar exchanged a smile as they watched the other couple. Brennan lightly kissed Shalimar and took her hand.

"You two ready to go?" Shalimar asked Jesse and Lexa.

"Yeah." Jesse took Lexa's arm. "Which car are we taking?"

"Two separate cars tonight." Brennan took a nervous breath.

"Then lets get this show on the road.' Lexa said as she started to lead Jesse out of the room.

Two hours later

The group of four sat around the table, laughing and talking. They had just finished their entrées and were waiting on dessert.

"Excuse me, Miss." The waiter said as he stood next to Shalimar. "This was dropped off for you earlier."

"Thank you." Shalimar said as she took the box. Looking up at the others she toyed with he ribbon that was tied around it. "Which one of you did this?"

The other three looked at each other questioningly.

"Its not from one of us, Shal." Jesse answered. "I guess we open it and find out."

"Alright." Shalimar untied the ribbon and opened the box. Lying in the box was a full length mink coat and a card. Shalimar opened the card and read what was written inside. "'Shalimar, although I cannot celebrate with you I did manage to send this to you. Knowing how you feel about furs they are not real, but do look as if they are. Happy birthday, Shalimar. Love Adam.'"

"He sent you a birthday present." Lexa smiled slightly. "I guess we should give you are gifts now." She handed the blonde woman a small white box.

Shalimar opened it and smiled at the stack of gift cards from various stores.

"Thank you, Lexa. I'll enjoy these." She answered softly.

"I've got two for you." Jesse handed her a small rectangular package and an envelope. "Open the package first."

"Alright." Shalimar carefully un-wrapped the wrapping paper and found a book with her name across it. Flipping thought the pages she found stories from her years with Mutant X, and pictures of her with the other team members. "It's wonderful, Jess."

"I had it specially made for you.' He smiled and raked his fingers through his hair. "Open the envelope now."

Shalimar carefully slit open the envelope and pulled out a piece of paper. She stared at it with confusion. "What is this?"

"What does it look like?" Jesse shot back, still smiling.

"A class schedule?"

"What kind of classes, Shal?" Jesse asked, trying not to laugh.

Shalimar carefully studied the courses listed. "Pre-med?" Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her. "You're going back to school to get your med degree?"

"My classes start in two months. Are you happy?"

"Happy! I'm elated!" She got up, walked over to him, and hugged him. "You are going to make a great doctor."

"I think one more person has a present for you, Shal." Lexa said softly.

"Alright." Shalimar gently kissed Jesse on the cheek and then went back to her seat.

Brennan got up, walked over to Shalimar, and knelt down on one knee as he pulled out the jewelry box. "During the last four years our lives have been insane. There have been many times when one or both of us have almost been killed, and there have been times when we have hurt each other. Each and every time that I have come close to loosing you have shown me how much I love you. So tonight I want to ask you to be my wife. Shalimar Fox, will you marry me?"

"Yes, I'll marry you." She leaned in and lightly kissed him.

Three hours later.

Brennan and Shalimar stood outside the door of the justice of the peace's office.

Brennan turned to Shalimar and looked at her. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I'm sure. I cant wait another day to be your wife." She smiled at him. "I'm just glad that you're friend could swing this."

"So am I." Brennan gently kissed her. "After this is over we'll go somewhere special and when we get home in the morning you can announce that we are Mr. and Mrs. Brennan Mulwray."

"I love you, Brennan."

"I love you too, Shal."

Back at Sanctuary.

Lexa laid back in the bed, thoroughly exhausted from her marathon session of making love with Jesse. She closed her eyes as she waited for him to bring her the glass of water she had requested.

In the kitchen Jesse was carefully mixing a fine powder into Lexa's water. It was not how he wanted to keep her home the next day, but it was the only chance he would have. Loosing her would kill him.

He took the water to the bed room and handed it to Lexa. He kept his fingers crossed as he watched her drink it, and only relaxed when she had swallowed the last sip.

"I love you, Lexa." he whispered as he laid down next to her.

"I love you too, Jess." she whispered back, snuggling into his arms.

They closed their eyes and fell to sleep.


	19. Chapter 18

Darkness Falling

Chapter 18

Day Zero.

8:00 am.

Jesse woke up with Lexa still in his arms. He felt a twinge of guilt for having drugged her the night before, but it had been necessary. She would have found a way to sneak out on the mission, and he knew that she would have done it. He still worried that she would wake up, angry at him for drugging her and upset that she was not on the mission. He had been careful with the dosage, enough to keep her out for twelve hours, but not enough to cause her any damage. Sedatives were always tricky. He gently kissed the top of her head, and then slipped out of bed. He tucked the blankets tightly around her, dressed, and headed to the computers so he could be ready for the mission.

9:30 am.

Shalimar woke up, in Brennan's arms as the sun streamed in through the window. Her thoughts went back to the night before. Their first night as husband and wife. Somehow, all the times they had made love over the years were shallow compared to the depth of love and passion they had reached as they had consummated their marriage.

She twisted the ring that was on her finger. She could hardly wait to go back to Sanctuary and tell Jesse and Lexa about the marriage. Then there was the fact that Adam would be back with them. Once she had worked through all of her pain and confusion she had to admit that she did love the man who had been a father figure to her for so many years. She could only hope that the others would be as willing to forgive him as she was.

11:30 am.

Shalimar and Brennan walked into the computer lab of New Sanctuary and found Jesse working at the computer.

Jesse looked up when he heard them and then briskly began to get things together. "Lexa is still asleep thanks to the sedative I gave her this last night or this morning, what ever you want to call it. I hated doing it, but didn't want to take any chances. You guys need to hurry up and get out of here because I don't want there to be any chance of her waking up early and slipping out with you. I'll be monitoring things from here, but there shouldn't be any trouble. Call me before you come back in of anything goes wrong." He took a deep breath. "I want you guys back here with in twenty minutes of getting Adam. Lexa's last treatment could give out by tonight so we don't have time to delay."

Shalimar gently hugged Jesse. "She'll be alright. We'll be back as quickly as we can."

Jesse nodded and chocked back his tears. "Let's get this over with."

12:45 pm.

Lexa walked over to where Jesse was, half angry and half amused. "You drugged me? _You_ drugged me!"

Jesse turned to her and pulled her into his arms. "Only way I could be sure that you wouldn't slip out with Bren and Shal." he cupped her face in his hands and softly kissed her. "I love you and I don't want anything to happen to you. If we are going to get to the point where we are living a half normal life and have kids of our own to take care of I'm going to have to have you alive. Sending you out on that mission would be writing your death."

"Alright." Lexa agreed. "I love you, and I'm proud of you." she sat down in his lap and began to kiss him lightly, speaking one word at a time between kisses. "I'm proud you had the nerve to drug me. You are a very bad boy, Jess."

"You have no idea how bad." he whispered to her and then pulled her tight against him as he gave her a long slow kiss."

1:10 pm.

Brennan and Shalimar sat crouched behind a low brick wall as they waited. With every second that passed by they grew more anxious."

"Someone's coming." Shalimar whispered. She turned to her feral senses. "It's Adam. There are about three people a block away but I cant be sure about anything further."

"We'll get Adam and get out of here." Brennan whispered back.

They stood up and called to their former leader in unison. "Adam!"

Adam turned to face them and then hurried over to them. "We need to leave now. I cannot be certain, but I think someone followed me."

"Then let's go.' Brennan said and started toward the Helix. Just as they reached the door three men appeared. One was carrying a semi-automatic and opened fire.

The group rushed towards the Helix, Brennan pushed Adam in front of him and reached back to grab Shalimar's hand. Just as his fingers brushed against hers the world stopped. All he could feel was a sense of dread that he had not been able to do enough to save Shalimar.


	20. Epilouge

Notes: Well here is the last chapter for the story. I am scared to say it but I'm actually getting a few ideas for a sequel. You guys let me know what you think about that. There will be a few questions for you guys at the bottom of the page!

Darkness Falling

Epilogue.

Brennan woke up as the alarm clock began blaring. He slipped out of bed and made his way to the kitchen.

"Morning, Bren." Lexa said when he walked into the room. "Blair needs to be fed and I cant find her bottles. Do you have any idea where Jess put them?"

"Blair?" Brennan questioned, and then noticed the baby sitting in her carrier at one end of the table. Things had changed for sure, but for now he had to play along until he figured out what all had happened. "I don't have any idea what he did with them."

"I threw them out." Jesse said as he walked into the room. "We just got a safety recall in on that brand. I'll pick up some on the way home from work."

"And how am I supposed to feed our daughter with out a bottle?" Lexa put her hands on her hips and glared at Jesse.

"She's old enough to start cereal, or you can go back to breast-feeding. The latter would be better for her anyway." Jesse picked up a lab coat that was lying on top of the counter. "And who ever did the laundry should know better than to leave clothes on the kitchen counter. It may be more convenient for some people but it puts the clothes at risk of being ruined."

"And it is a good way to spread diseases." Lexa added laughing. "Jess, you know that when the baby gets me up in the morning I bring your lab coat in here so you don't have to go looking for it. Now if you want to trade those few extra seconds with you daughter for your idealism about keeping down the spread of disease I'll be happy to stop doing it."

"I think we would all prefer it if you two would not get into the same argument every morning." Adam said as he walked into the kitchen. "How is Blair today?"

Jesse picked up the baby and then started in on the cup of coffee Lexa had handed him. "She's fine. She slept the whole night for once."

"A couple more nights like that and I might be able to consider having another child one day." Lexa smiled slightly and sat down. "She's a pretty baby, but she is also a lot of trouble."

"You're lucky she's pretty, Lexa." Brennan smirked as he sat down at the table. "She could have gotten Jesse's looks."

"Oh, we wont go into what your kid could end up looking like." Jesse jiggled Blair as she started fussing.

"My kid?" Brennan asked in shock.

"What did you forget that Shal's pregnant?" Lexa's eyes widened in fake surprise.

"Uh, no." Brennan quickly recovered. "Just forgot the comeback I was going to use."

"Sorry, I'm late for watching Jesse be late." Shalimar said as she walked into the kitchen.

Brennan felt his breath catch as he saw her. Suddenly all the pain he had gone through, and all the risks he had taken to get her back were worth it.

"I fixed that problem." Jesse leaned back in his chair and kissed the baby's head. "I had my hours changed. I can go into work an hour later now, but still get off at the same time."

"World's perfect job for you isn't it?" Shalimar sat down and kissed Brennan. "You can sit around and hold that baby for a while then go off to your nice well paid job and then it is back home for more time with the baby and then your wife while the rest of us work on the Underground."

"Oh, now we both know that you and Toni have the Underground going well. The only thing that I'm concerned about is getting this baby raised right so she can take over my job and fix the computers when Bren messes them up." Jesse shot back. "And besides, you have been making all of us cater to your every need since you got pregnant."

"And now time for the other morning ritual." Lexa rolled her eyes. "You know the sooner Jess and I move out the better."

"Just as long as you remember to take the baby with you." Brennan and Shalimar said at the same time.

The room froze and Brennan closed his eyes as everything in his mind fell into place.

__

Two months into the missing year...

Brennan was sitting at the computers working on a private file when Lexa walked into the room.

"Do you think you could spare a minute to help me figure out how to break some news to Jess?" she asked as she sat down in one of the other chairs.

"I guess I could. What's the news."

"He's going to be a father." Lexa smiled slightly, but the smile quickly faded. "I don't know how to tell him since we both decided that it would be better to wait on starting a family until after he had finished med school and had started work."

"Lex, he wants this, alright. I know that you two had made plans to wait, but he's going to be thrilled to hear that there is a baby one the way."

"Alright." Lexa nodded. "Thank you."

"Anytime, Lexa, anytime."

Three months into the missing year…

Jesse and Lexa walked down a quiet path in the park, the shade of the trees protecting them from the sun.

"Let's sit down for a minute." Jesse whispered to her looking up at a bench just up the path from them.

"Alright." Lexa agreed.

They walked to the bench and Lexa sat down. Jesse stood in front of her for a moment and then dropped to one knee.

"Lexa," he began nervously. "I know that we've talked a lot about a future together, but we have never decided exactly what we want to do. We've got a baby on the way now, I'm back in med school and doing the work at double speed, and for the most part our work with Mutant X has begun to slow down any way. The only thing I can think to do right now is to ask you to just get it over with and agree to marry me."

"I expected a better proposal than that." Lexa answered seriously and then began to smile. "I guess I'll have to marry you because I cant think of any girl who would accept that proposal."

Five months into the missing year…

"I have an announcement to make." Adam said as he stepped in front of the gathered group. "Thanks to the hard work of all of you we have managed to stabilize every new mutant in the database. There is still a chance that there are a few that we missed due to un-logged experiments and other anomalies, but we have done our job."

Six months into the missing year…

Jesse stood on stage in front of his graduating class. Even though all of the other students graduating from his class were ten years younger than him he was still nervous. "I walked into the halls of this school for the first time over ten years ago with the ambition to be a doctor. With only a year left before I completed my degree I was forced to drop out. I had every intention to return, but day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year there were new excuses for me to stay out of school. Before I knew it ten years had passed and I was still only a year away from being a doctor.

Our oath is to 'Do No Harm.' It is a task which I failed ten years ago. The greatest harm that you can do is to give up on your dreams. When things got rough in my life I chose to give up on my dream, but I learned an important lesson.

A friend who I have considered to be a sister was more disappointed in me than I was, and she is the reason I came back to this school. Over the years she has managed to teach me many things, but the greatest thing that she has ever taught me was that dreams never die. I came back to school as her birthday present. My plan was to give a year of my life to doing what would make both me and her happiest, following my dream.

Because I had her and my other friends behind me I managed to achieve my dream, and I did it in half the time I had expected. I stand here today with my medical degree, and although hard work and late nights of studying are important parts of how I earned this degree there is something more that helped me. A family that consists of my surrogate father figure, my best friend, my sister, and my fiancé. They will be with me in the trials of my new job, as will the child that my fiancé and I will have soon. As long as you have family and friends behind you it is possible to do anything." he stepped away from the podium and wiped a tear from his eye.

Nine months into the missing year.

Brennan stood with Shalimar out side the lab as they waited for news on Lexa. So far her delivery had been difficult, and they were all wondering how she would come out of it.

Suddenly the sound of a baby's cry broke the silence. There was a scurry of noise in the lab and then silence once again. They held the breath as they waited for news.

The door opened and Jesse stepped out carrying a baby wrapped in a soft yellow blanket. "Meet Lina Blair. Lexa had he name chosen long before we knew we were pregnant."

"How is she?" Shalimar asked in a nervous whisper.

"She's going to be fine." His voice broke and tears began to stream down his face. "She's going to be fine."

Ten months into the missing year…

Shalimar stepped into the bedroom that she and Brennan shared. Turning to her side she looked into the mirror, carefully looking over her figure.

"What are you doing?" Brennan asked as he stepped into the room.

"Wondering if Lexa's maternity clothes would fit me." she turned to him. "We are going to be having a baby in a few months."

Brennan picked her up and spun her around. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Brennan opened his eyes again, the memories of Shalimar's death and his trip back to the past were fading, but he knew that deep in his mind he would always remember what had happened. Those memories would be over shadowed by the memories of a happy life, but they would be there, and they would always remind him of how fortunate he was to have his family.

"Why do you want to move out anyway?" Brennan asked looking at Jesse and Lexa. "Just because the secret of the existence of new mutants is all but out doesn't mean that we all have to go to normal lives. I don't think any of us could handle that."

"We just thought that if we moved out it would be a little easier on the kids." Lexa answered slowly."It is hard to register a kid for school if their home is a secret location."

"We've got enough people who can tutor the kids and give them an appropriate diploma, there is no need for us to separate out."

"Brennan has a point." Adam broke in. "Nora, the woman I have been seeing is a teacher and I think that she could make it possible for the children to be home schooled. When it comes time for college I can pull a few strings."

"I'm in for the idea if the rest of you are. I cant say much because of doctor patient confidentiality, but I have seen what happens to kids at public schools, and even at private schools. In the long run it would be better for the kids to be kept here." Jesse put down his coffee cup.

"The most important thing is that we are a family, and I want it to stay that way." Brennan added.

Adam looked over the group for a moment. "We are a family. I know that we have each lost people over the years, and that our plans have changed but we still have each other, and I couldn't be prouder. I've come to think of the five of you that have made up my team as my children. I've lost one of you, I have seen one of you graduate from medical school and become and excellent pediatrician, I've seen one of my two remaining daughters become a mother, I've seen my other son change from a criminal into a great man, and I'm looking forward to seeing my other daughter become a mother. I could not be more proud of you four."

The end.

Do you want a sequel? What did you think of how it ended? What did you think of Jesse's speech? What part of the story did you like best?

Thanks to all my readers! I love and appreciate each and every one of you!

Lotta love

Martana Alexander


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